Early in Christian history, the following Psalms were prayed during penitential seasons or when a person was going through trials and tribulations that resulted in what is called in Alcoholics Anonymous, “pitiful and incompressible demoralization.” Being human means having to say you are sorry. Going through life without participating in the woof and weave of human horror, either as victim, by-stander, or perpetrator simply seems unrealistic.
Yet, for many of us, we seek to avoid this painful reality by running away. We blame others rather than accepting our part in life’s horrors; we seek to remain ignorant of these horrors and build walls around ourselves and those whom we love; or we beat up on ourselves and blame ourselves when such horrors touch us or those whom we love.
The following psalms contain many of these options expressed as prayers. Sometimes we just need to hear ourselves in the prayers of others in order to experience the pain of being human and know that God is with us. Just below the title of this small booklet is the Hebrew letter chai. You may see this letter hanging from the necks of individuals and wonder why it is decorating the persons neck.
The Chai stands for life, spelled and pronounced various ways, Chi or chai. it is numerically associated with the number 18 which could be translated as gift or grace. In Judaism, gifts of money are often given in multiples of 18 and called giving Chai. I have included this symbol and the cross together as signs of faith that beyond the horrors we experience in life, God is present with us in every single moment and even between the countable moments.
This cross in a circle and hovering above the waves is my image of the first verse in psalm 130, “Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord; Lord hear my voice, let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.” You may choose to simply read through these psalms or to draw images or describe situations that these psalms bring to your memory that require the healing presence of God.
May God be with us all as we pray these psalms.
Bob
Psalm 6 A David Psalm
1-2 Please, God, no more yelling, no more trips to the woodshed. Treat me nice for a change; I'm so starved for affection.
2-3 Can't you see I'm black-and-blue, beat up badly in bones and soul? God, how long will it take for you to let up?
4-5 Break in, GOD, and break up this fight; if you love me at all, get me out of here. I'm no good to you dead, am I? I can't sing in your choir if I'm buried in some tomb!
6-7 I'm tired of all this—so tired. My bed has been floating forty days and nights On the flood of my tears. My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears. The sockets of my eyes are black holes; nearly blind, I squint and grope.
8-9 Get out of here, you Devil's crew: at last God has heard my sobs. My requests have all been granted, my prayers are answered.
10 Cowards, my enemies disappear. Disgraced, they turn tail and run.
Psalm 32 A David Psalm
1 Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be— you get a fresh start, your slate's wiped clean.
2 Count yourself lucky— GOD holds nothing against you and you're holding nothing back from him.
3 When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans.
4 The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up.
5 Then I let it all out; I said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failures to GOD." Suddenly the pressure was gone— my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.
6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray; when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts we'll be on high ground, untouched.
7 GOD's my island hideaway, keeps danger far from the shore, throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.
8 Let me give you some good advice; I'm looking you in the eye and giving it to you straight:
9 "Don't be ornery like a horse or mule that needs bit and bridle to stay on track."
10 God-defiers are always in trouble; GOD-affirmers find themselves loved every time they turn around.
11 Celebrate GOD. Sing together—everyone! All you honest hearts, raise the roof!
Psalm 38 A David Psalm
1-2 Take a deep breath, GOD; calm down— don't be so hasty with your punishing rod. Your sharp-pointed arrows of rebuke draw blood; my backside smarts from your caning.
3-4 I've lost twenty pounds in two months because of your accusation. My bones are brittle as dry sticks because of my sin. I'm swamped by my bad behavior, collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt.
5-8 The cuts in my flesh stink and grow maggots because I've lived so badly. And now I'm flat on my face feeling sorry for myself morning to night. All my insides are on fire, my body is a wreck. I'm on my last legs; I've had it— my life is a vomit of groans.
9-16 Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight, my groans an old story to you. My heart's about to break; I'm a burned-out case. Cataracts blind me to God and good; old friends avoid me like the plague. My cousins never visit, my neighbors stab me in the back. My competitors blacken my name, devoutly they pray for my ruin. But I'm deaf and mute to it all, ears shut, mouth shut. I don't hear a word they say, don't speak a word in response. What I do, GOD, is wait for you, wait for my Lord, my God—you will answer! I wait and pray so they won't laugh me off, won't smugly strut off when I stumble.
17-20 I'm on the edge of losing it— the pain in my gut keeps burning. I'm ready to tell my story of failure, I'm no longer smug in my sin. My enemies are alive and in action, a lynch mob after my neck. I give out good and get back evil from God-haters who can't stand a God-lover.
21-22 Don't dump me, GOD; my God, don't stand me up. Hurry and help me; I want some wide-open space in my life!
Psalm 102
1-2 GOD, listen! Listen to my prayer, listen to the pain in my cries. Don't turn your back on me just when I need you so desperately. Pay attention! This is a cry for help! And hurry—this can't wait!
3-11 I'm wasting away to nothing, I'm burning up with fever. I'm a ghost of my former self, half-consumed already by terminal illness. My jaws ache from gritting my teeth; I'm nothing but skin and bones. I'm like a buzzard in the desert, a crow perched on the rubble. Insomniac, I twitter away, mournful as a sparrow in the gutter. All day long my enemies taunt me, while others just curse. They bring in meals—casseroles of ashes! I draw drink from a barrel of my tears. And all because of your furious anger; you swept me up and threw me out. There's nothing left of me— a withered weed, swept clean from the path.
12-17 Yet you, GOD, are sovereign still, always and ever sovereign. You'll get up from your throne and help Zion— it's time for compassionate help. Oh, how your servants love this city's rubble and weep with compassion over its dust! The godless nations will sit up and take notice —see your glory, worship your name— When GOD rebuilds Zion, when he shows up in all his glory, When he attends to the prayer of the wretched. He won't dismiss their prayer.
18-22 Write this down for the next generation so people not yet born will praise GOD: "GOD looked out from his high holy place; from heaven he surveyed the earth. He listened to the groans of the doomed, he opened the doors of their death cells." Write it so the story can be told in Zion, so GOD's praise will be sung in Jerusalem's streets And wherever people gather together along with their rulers to worship him.
23-28 GOD sovereignly brought me to my knees, he cut me down in my prime. "Oh, don't," I prayed, "please don't let me die. You have more years than you know what to do with! You laid earth's foundations a long time ago, and handcrafted the very heavens; You'll still be around when they're long gone, threadbare and discarded like an old suit of clothes. You'll throw them away like a worn-out coat, but year after year you're as good as new. Your servants' children will have a good place to live and their children will be at home with you."
Psalm 130 A Pilgrim Song
1-2 Help, GOD—the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy.
3-4 If you, GOD, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that's why you're worshiped.
5-6 I pray to GOD—my life a prayer— and wait for what he'll say and do. My life's on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning.
7-8 O Israel, wait and watch for GOD— with GOD's arrival comes love, with GOD's arrival comes generous redemption. No doubt about it—he'll redeem Israel, buy back Israel from captivity to sin.
Psalm 143 A David Psalm
1-2 Listen to this prayer of mine, GOD; pay attention to what I'm asking. Answer me—you're famous for your answers! Do what's right for me. But don't, please don't, haul me into court; not a person alive would be acquitted there.
3-6 The enemy hunted me down; he kicked me and stomped me within an inch of my life. He put me in a black hole, buried me like a corpse in that dungeon. I sat there in despair, my spirit draining away, my heart heavy, like lead. I remembered the old days, went over all you've done, pondered the ways you've worked, Stretched out my hands to you, as thirsty for you as a desert thirsty for rain.
7-10 Hurry with your answer, GOD! I'm nearly at the end of my rope. Don't turn away; don't ignore me! That would be certain death. If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice, I'll go to sleep each night trusting in you. Point out the road I must travel; I'm all ears, all eyes before you. Save me from my enemies, GOD— you're my only hope! Teach me how to live to please you, because you're my God. Lead me by your blessed Spirit into cleared and level pastureland.
11-12 Keep up your reputation, God—give me life! In your justice, get me out of this trouble! In your great love, vanquish my enemies; make a clean sweep of those who harass me. And why? Because I'm your servant.
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