How Praying the Psalms Has Changed My Prayer Life
An incomplete list of what I have learned and am learning
As I have prayed the psalms more consistently over the past several years, I find myself praying in ways that have not been characteristic of my prayers in the past:
I find myself declaring His steadfast love and faithfulness TO MYSELF (amazing how often those words are paired together in the psalms)
I find myself praying against opposition much more often - against enemies who oppose the proclamation of the gospel and who seek to distract me from following Jesus These adversaries may be thoughts, ideas, philosophies, influences, relationships, people, etc.
I find myself praying about seasons of waiting a lot more than I used to
I haven’t found easy solutions to my problems in praying the psalms, but I have found a common language - a language used in the midst of difficulty by David, Asaph, the sons of Korah, and the other psalmists, countless believers throughout history who have prayed the psalms, and countless believers who are praying the psalms today.
Above all, praying the psalms tells me that I am not alone.
Praying the psalms tells me that despair, hopelessness, etc. are not uncommon emotions for God’s people.
Praying the psalms “grounds” me and makes sure I am praying the full gamut of my situations, my emotions, my spiritual needs, etc. All are expressed at some point in the psalms, so when I pray them, I leave no stone unturned, as it were.
When I am desperately praying for something to be resolved, and I see no apparent progress in that direction, I can know that I am not alone - the psalmists who originally composed the psalms, the editors who compiled and arranged those psalms, the exiles who sang and prayed those psalms, the countless children of God who have prayed those psalms throughout history, and the countless children of God who pray those psalms today have all cried out to Him along with me, “How long, O Lord?”
Praying the psalms helps me build a consistent prayer life in this sense - whether or not I am tempted to give up on a situation I have been praying about, there is a psalm to pray today. And I can be 100% certain that whichever psalm I am praying today, it won’t let me ignore the reality of my plight and the plight of others (my family, my friends, the unreached, etc.).
I am praying in community when I pray the psalms. I am praying less for “me” and more for “us.” For example, instead of praying Psalm 35:19 as “Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause,” I am praying (as I have my daily prayer points in front of me - praying for me, my spouse, our children, our friends, countries, people groups, and missionaries), “Let not those rejoice over us who are wrongfully our foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate us without cause.” I have a suspicion that this line of thinking also “allows” me to pray for those who will come after us - knowing that those who came before us prayed for us in the present day.
When I pray the psalms, vain repetition tends not to enter in - there may be repetition (because the same language is often used in different psalms), but it is never vain.