Learning the Language of Prayer

“ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:1-6 NIV)

In his book, Working the Angles, pastor Eugene Peterson calls prayer “answering speech,” and the Psalms the perfect source to teach us to speak fluently the language of prayer.  We can learn a lot about this language by looking at one of the most famous Psalms—Psalm 23.  

Note the definitiveness of David’s words.  “The Lord is my shepherd.” He makes me lie down…”  “He leads me beside quiet waters…”  There is no tentativeness or a sense of wishful thinking in his words.  In today’s language, this Psalm likely would sound more like this: Lord, I want you to be my shepherd so that I will lack nothing.  Help me to lie down in green pastures and may you lead me beside quiet waters. Please Lord, refresh my soul. 

And the requests would continue to the end as if we have to ask God to be who He is.  Rather than being fluent in the definitive language of the Psalms, we speak a different language that has a hesitant, doubtful tone, perhaps because instead of being “answering speech,” we view prayer as our initiation.  We are coming to God to say or ask for something, rather than responding to what He has already said.  

He says “I am with you always,”(Matthew 28:20) but we pray, “Lord, be with me.” He says, “Where two are three are gathered in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20) But we pray, “Lord, we invite you into this place.”  The Lord says He will provide (Matthew 6:33), but we ask Him to provide for our needs. David states the Lord’s goodness and love will follow Him throughout his life, but we ask the Lord for His blessings and love throughout our day or the coming week.  Do you see the difference?

The language we often use in prayer is tentative, as if we are unsure of the Lord’s character.  We think He will lead us, provide for us, will be with us, but to be sure, we’d better ask.  But I think it goes deeper than this and Peterson addresses this.  He says we often take the view that prayer is our initiative and God does nothing until we pray.  Rather, he says, prayer is our response to God’s initiative.  He always has the first word.  And this is borne out in David’s prayer.  

God has been a shepherd to him; He has led him and refreshed him. He has always been with Him.  There is no need for him to ask God to be who He already is or to do what He naturally does.  God spoke first. David is responding to what He already has said.  

Today, reflect on the language you speak in prayer.  Does it use the definitive words of David, ones that are in response to what the Lord has already said?   Or do they reflect the belief that you have to take the initiative with God, that you are always the first one to speak? Remember this: “In the beginning was the Word…”  Everything we pray is in response to what He has already said.  

© Jim Musser 2015