Day 32 | Charly Adams

Psalm 54 is a great example of prayer. Personal background here: according to Meyers-Briggs I'm a Thinker, specifically an Intuiting Thinker, so I think big picture, and according to the CRAP model I'm a DOer, so I like to doing things with my faith. For me this has combined to a bit of an aversion to prayer, but Psalm 54 shattered this for me.

Psalm 54 has two pretty clear parts. Part 1 is verses 1-3 where David is asking God for help, different than before because there's a sense of maturity and fear. He asks God to see him, not his situation or him in that moment, but him, and then respond. Next comes “Selah.” I’ve always understood as a musical interlude, and I think it's fitting here given the topic shift. Part 2 is verses 4-7. I get the sense that David has heard God's answer of yes and is thanking him, but he's still in danger so he's also asking him to hurry up.

What really gets me with this Psalm is that behind all the beautiful language it's a pretty raw prayer. This is, after all, a song written to be performed presumably in a worship setting, so it has to be a little prettier than “God look at me and save me if you see fit … Thank you! Please hurry.” When the Psalm gets boiled down to that, the basic thought process, it sounds a lot like something I want to pray all the time. The fact that this is basically David's prayers makes me feel like it's a heck of a lot more acceptable. David flowered it up for a song, but it's a pretty raw prayer. Hopefully this helps those of y'all struggling with prayer for whatever the reason.

Quickly on Psalm 55.

Sweeter than honey hath been his mouth, And his heart [is] war! Softer have been his words than oil, And they [are] drawn [swords].

Psalms 55:21

God's a heck of a lot of contradictions, but through a “free will offering” (Psalm 54:6) of choosing to live for him each day, we get to see the “sweeter than honey” and softer than oil God we're used to.