Thursday, 13 October 2011

Praying the psalms

This morning, when I was praying about the political crackdown in Syria, I found myself thanking God for crushing the oppressors there.  I was a bit surprised at myself: even asking God to crush oppressors is a relatively new development, and I'm pretty sure that thanking Him for something He hasn't done yet is a first.

I know where both bits of this way of praying have come from, though.  As I've mentioned earlier, I now pray through a list of people and situations most days, and I've also read a psalm a day since near the beginning of this year.  Often I've seen the psalmist pleading that God will bring down or crush those who are oppressing the poor, the weak or the righteous.  More surprisingly to me, the psalmist also frequently thanks God for doing whatever he is currently asking God for - i.e. he is thanking God for doing something God hasn't done yet*.  It seems that these ways of praying have gotten into me and are coming out in my own prayers now too!  Yay :-)


* one example I've read in recent days is Psalm 39

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