Learning to Pray from the Psalms, Part 6: The Psalms of Sacred History
(Click here for part one)
by Pastor Paul Dugan
The Psalms provide a “playlist” for all dimensions of the human experience, for all parts of the human soul. This playlist includes a wide variety of genres that help us gather the whole of our lives in honest and grateful prayer before God.
The Psalms have changed my life. They have become medicine for my soul.
Today we explore the Psalms of Sacred History
Psalm 78 is a classic example of a sacred history psalm:
My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old— things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel,which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. (Psalm 78:1-7)
“The way we understand human life depends on what conception we have of the human story. What is the real story of which my life story is a part?” (Leslie Newbigin)
Your life is a story. Like a good story, it has a beginning, middle, and end. It includes elements of tension, conflict, surprise, and resolution along the way. I cannot know you apart from knowing your story.
And your story has been shaped by a larger story. Every person’s story is being shaped by an overarching narrative. That narrative began with your family of origin. We cannot avoid the shaping power of family- for good and for bad. Your story has also been shaped your generation’s story. For example, my generation (the “baby boomer generation) has been deeply impacted by the Vietnam/Watergate stories. Millennials have been marked by the 9/11 story. Then there are larger cultural stories, like the Enlightenment story (“progress” by education, science and technology), the Marxist story (“progress” by revolution), the Consumer story (“progress” by constant consumption), the Postmodern story (“progress” by deconstructing all other stories).
Whether we like it or not, whether we are conscious of it or not, for good or for bad, we are all being shaped by larger stories.
But sooner or later these stories betray us. Their promises of the “good life” come crashing down, leading to cynicism and despair. But the crash of stories can also be a gift, a birth of a new story. Great spiritual awakenings have taken place in the ruins of cultural stories… as generations have rediscovered a better narrarive- the Story of God.
The Story of God is the only story that is true enough, honest enough, and large enough to make sense of all our messy stories. The Bible is best read as a single unfolding Story leading to Jesus. And the psalms of sacred history help re-connect us with that Story.
The psalms of sacred history rehearse the Story of the mighty acts of God in the midst of human folly and weakness. They are psalms of “His-story” and “our story.” They tend to be longer than other psalms, recounting in chronological order many of the saving acts of God in the forming of his people and delivering them from their bondage.
Examples of sacred history psalms include Psalm 76, 78, 81, 105, 106, 114, 135 and 136.
These psalms, like the whole Bible, invite us to enter into God’s Story and to discover our part in it. But, just a warning: it’s a messy story. Eugene Peterson writes in the introduction to The Message translation of the Bible:
“Some are also surprised that Bible reading does not introduce us to a “nicer” world. This biblical world is decidedly not an ideal world, the kind we see advertised in travel posters. Suffering and injustice and ugliness are not purged from the world in which God works and loves and saves. Nothing is glossed over. God works patiently and deeply, but often in hidden ways, in the mess of our humanity and history…”
The psalms of sacred history not only invite us into the messiness of God’s Story. They invite us to pass on that Story to the next generation.
So, how do we tell our story? I have found it helpful to frame stories through the four great movements of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration.
Here are some suggestions on how to write your own “sacred history psalm”:
Creation: What have been some influences that gave you a sense of value and worth as a child/young person?
Give thanks for those gifts.
Fall: What were some of the ways you first experienced the pain and brokenness of sin? (your own and other's sin)
Lament the pain. Confess your failures.
How did you attemp to fix this pain?
Redemption: How did the Holy Spirit lead you to put your trust in Christ?
Who/what did God use in this process?
What are some changes Jesus began to make in your life?
Give praise and thanks to God for your redemption!
Restoration (your unfolding story): What is the Holy Spirit doing in your life right now?
What do you want him to change in you / in your world? (be specific)
What aspect of the new heavens and new earth are you most looking forward to?
Tell him your longings.
This is part six in a ten-part series on how to pray the psalms. Part seven is here.
For an index to digital prayer guides for more than one hundred individual psalms, click here.