There was a time when I thought it was selfish and improper to pray for a blessing on myself. I should pray for others. I should put others first. God would bless as it was deemed appropriate.
I can thank Bruce Wilkerson’s book The Prayer of Jabez for changing my mind about that. Not that I’ve read the (little) book. I never did. I didn’t need to. It was once quite popular — a Christian fad during 2001 and several years after. I used to hear about the book continually. People would quote from it, and summarize it, and refer to it. Other people denounced the book and it’s sudden popularity. Since then the whole phenomenon has been largely forgotten.
Anyway, back then, I got curious. So, I looked up the actual prayer of Jabez in the Bible. It’s in 1 Chronicles.
“Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His loving-kindness is everlasting.” (Psalms 106:1 NASB).
It is an exhortation. The “hallelujah” is an imperative. We are being told to praise.
I don’t think this is an attempt to command an emotion. This is not the same as: “Don’t worry, be happy.” I think I am being told to turn my mind toward the God who alone is worthy of praise. Emotion cannot be commanded. Emotion arises when I turn my mind toward something that awakens that feeling.
To feel an emotion, I must find the object that arouses it. Sin, guilt and failure cannot be allowed to be the last word. It leaves me in despair. We turn from ourselves toward God. As we remember that God is good (ט֑וֹב) and that God’s steadfast love (חַסְדֹּֽ) endures forever, hope and joy and purpose stir in us again.
It is true, I think, that as the Creator and Source of our life God is worthy of praise. But, it is God’s character, known through the history of salvation, that truly awakens praise. God is good. God demonstrates a never-gives-uplove (חַסְדֹּֽ) which continually chases after us. So, the strength and vitality of my praise today depends upon my belief that God is good and gracious and merciful and loyal and persistent.
Many years ago — when we were living in the Byron Center, Michigan area — I attended a couple of prayer retreats with a small group of fellow pastors from the area. We spent some time at St. Gregory’s Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan. We were there from Monday evening to Tuesday afternoon.
I always appreciate places like this where silence and meditation are practiced. Being on retreat in a place like this is an invitation to silence and to mindfulness about ourselves and God’s presence with us.
What I remember about it is this: the retreat began to re-awaken my desire to be with God, to be in prayer, to meditate anew on the Scriptures. It re-awakened the desire to listen. I had a renewed desire to experience (or recognize) God’s presence.
I need to continually re-affirm for myself anew that God is good and steadfast and loyal and gracious and loving. And, that is what Sunday morning worship is so important. That’s why having a prayer time in the morning can be so important. It turns our mind toward God. Even at the times I have felt most alienated from the church, there is still within me a desire to worship. I am not in the hands of fate — I am in the hands of God.
“Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the LORD, Or can show forth all His praise?” (Psalm 106:2 NASB).
At times my prayers are filled with words. But, if God’s deeds cannot be adequately recounted, what is the importance of my words?
At times I so want my words to reflect the emotion I feel. Hmm. Or is it the emotion I think I ought to feel?
At times all the words seem empty and inadequate and pointless. What do I need to tell God? Nothing. Do I really need to fill God in on things? No. What does all my knowledge amount to when placed against the greatness of God? Nothing. Job finally confessed: “…I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” (Job 42:3 NRSV). God’s greatness is beyond expression. Our words fail. There is a deep form of praise that is silent.
“But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!” (Habakkuk 2:20 NRSV).
A PRAYER
Lord God, Let my praise be finally swallowed up in silence, Not because I will the silence but because there are no longer any words that are adequate.
Meet me in the silence. I pray, through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.
I’ve said something about my usual habits in reading the Psalms here: Praying the Psalms. Briefly stated, my usual procedure in reading, meditating and praying with the Psalms is to read consecutively and slowly. For this purpose I use an Interlinear (Hebrew with English below) edition of the Psalms.
Usually this approach works very well. But, when I first got to Psalm 106 this didn’t work. With Psalm 106 it was necessary for me to see the opening verses of praise (vv. 1-5) in the light of their larger context. When I began to read and meditate on the Psalm, I was struck by the language of praise and worship in the opening verses (though they were similar to verses found elsewhere in the Psalms), but then I got “stuck” (from verse 6 onward) in a long section that recounts the sins of the nation of Israel (verses 6-46) and God’s unfailing commitment to them in spite of all that. This forced me to go back to the beginning and read it over again.
It is generally agreed among the scholars that Psalm 1 is an introduction to the whole book of Psalms. Some think it was never itself sung. So, reading it is a way of orienting ourselves to the whole book that follows. It shows us how the first compilers of this book understood it.
Prayer calls us away. It calls us to focus on the ultimate rather than the immediate. It calls us to attentiveness to God. In a sense, we become more aware of our surroundings, not less aware.
I liked the little book immediately, because it is printed in a way that clearly indicated the Hebrew roots and constructions. I knew immediately that I’d made a good purchase. But, it was many years before I actually put it to any regular use. Somewhere, some time, I learned to use the Psalms as my Prayer Book.
