Salvation Summaries

In recent weeks I have been studying prayers in the Old Testament and Psalms (and will soon study those in the NT) to learn how to pray better.  If you are like me, you have been a Christian for some time, but still don’t feel confident in praying.  For me personally, this is no longer acceptable.  I have relatives and friends who are in desperate need of effective prayers, and I simply have to do a better job of praying for them (and in a way that I believe pleases God).  When I have finished my study of prayers in the Bible (hopefully within the next few weeks), I will summarize my findings in a post or two.

Parts and Pattern

However, in this post I wanted to quickly pass on an observation I had this morning from studying a few of David’s prayers in the Psalms (I’m on vacation today and woke up much earlier than usual at 4:20 am, so I had extra time to study).

There is a particular pattern that David uses in his prayers (or at least in the handful of one’s I’ve read thus far).  The pattern often begins with a request, and then includes one, two or three parts as follows:

• Request
  • Who am I
  • Who are you (God)
  • Who are they

I’ve copied below two of David’s prayers so that you can see this pattern and the parts he used.  I highlighted in italics and orange font the “Who are you” part of each prayer, and will explain why in the Summary section of this post.

Example 1: Psalm 86:1-17

• request – Hear, O LORD, and answer me,
  • who am I – for I am poor and needy.
• request – ² Guard my life,
  • who am I – for I am devoted to you.
  • who are you – You are my God
• request – save your servant
  • who am I – who trusts in you.
• request – ³ Have mercy on me, O Lord,
  • who am I – for I call to you all day long.
• request – ⁴ Bring joy to your servant,
  • who am I – for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
  • who are you – ⁵ You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
• request –   ⁶ Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy.
  • who am I – ⁷ In the day of my trouble I will call to you,
  • who are you – for you will answer me.  ⁸ Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.  ⁹ All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.  ¹⁰ For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.
• request – ¹¹ Teach me your way, O LORD,
  • who am I – and I will walk in your truth;
• request – give me an undivided heart,
  • who am I – that I may fear your name.
  • who am I – ¹² I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
  • who are you – ¹³ For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.
  • who are they (problem) – ¹⁴ The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life– men without regard for you.
  • who are you – ¹⁵ But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
• request – ¹⁶ Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to
  • who am I – your servant
• request – save
  • who am I – the son of your maidservant.
• request – ¹⁷ Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
  • who are you – for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

Example 2: Psalm 61:1-8 

• request – Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
  • who am I – ² From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint;
• request – lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
  • who are you – ³ For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.
  • who am I – ⁴ I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah
  • who are you – ⁵ For you have heard my vows, O God; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
• request –   ⁶ Increase the days of the king’s life, his years for many generations.
  • who am I – ⁷ May he be enthroned in God’s presence forever;
• request – appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him.
  • who am I – ⁸ Then will I ever sing praise to your name and fulfill my vow

Summary

In my own prayers (and maybe in yours too), I often include requests, who am I and when relevant who are they, but I seldom include who are you. As a result, for me (and possibly you) to pray better, I need to do a much better job of acknowledging who God is and what He has done.

To help with this, I plan to pay more attention to the “who are you” parts of the prayers in the Bible, and will try to memorize some of these in order to incorporate them into my prayers.  Also, I ordered a devotional book this morning on the 100 Names of God, and hope to use a number of these where appropriate.