Prayer

The Dayenu: A Prayer of Thanksgiving

February 23, 2009 by Edwin Crozier 2 Comments

Thanks to Lori in Pennsylvania for putting me on to this great prayer. According to Wikipedia, it is a prayer the Jews offer as part of their Passover celebration. It is called Dayenu which essentially means “it would have sufficed.” It contains a series of statements about God’s blessings claiming each blessing would have been enough if God had only given that blessing, but He didn’t only give that blessing; He gave more.

This week I’m going to share the prayer with you. My plan is to write my own for next week. Maybe you can write one as well and share it with us in our Springboard for Your Spiritual Life.

If He had brought us out of Egypt, and not carried out judgments against them–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had carried out judgments against them, and not against their idols–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had destroyed their idols, and had not smitten their first-born–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had smitten their firstborn ,and had not given us their wealth–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had taken us through the sea on dry land, and had not drowned our oppressors in it–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had drown our oppressors in it, and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and had not fed us the manna–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had fed us manna, and had not given us the Shabbat–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had given us the Shabbat, and had not brought us before Mount Sinai–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and had not given us the Torah–Dayenu, it would have sufficed.

If He had given us the Torah, and had not brought us into the land of Israel–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and not built for us the Holy Temple–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

What a great form and model of a thanksgiving prayer. I hope it motivates you as it does me.

Praying like the Psalmists

February 2, 2009 by Edwin Crozier Leave a Comment

For centuries, Christians have looked to the psalms as a guide for prayer. No wonder, the raw emotion of the Psalms provides something for everyone no matter their situation or setting in life. Whether you are blessed beyond compare with health, wealth and salvation or you feel cursed and forsaken, the Psalms have prayers to echo what is in your heart.

Even Jesus relied on the Psalms in His prayers, quoting the laments of Psalm 22:1 and Psalm 31:5 while on the cross. In my recent studies of the psalms, I have learned so much about prayer and praise. However, the number one point I’ve learned is tattooed across the pages of these writings. If we will ever pray like the Psalmists, we must see God as they did.

God is My Rock…

Whether the psalmists were ascending to heaven or making their bed in Sheol (cf. Psalm 139:8) they could pray because they were utterly dependent on God. Psalm 18:1-2 describes it extensively.

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

The amazing thing about Psalm 18 is this psalmist had been near death and in distress. Yet, he called upon the Lord? Why? So many in this place feel God has abandoned them and decide to abandon God. Why did this psalmist keep praying? Because no matter how he felt, he knew deliverance could only come from God. No matter what he was facing, he relied on God and surrendered to God. Instead of assuming God had to do everything his way on his time, he simply trusted God to take care of him on God’s time table. So, he kept crying out to God.

The Example of a Distressed Psalmist

Consider Psalm 10:1, 4. The psalmist begins saying:

“Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide ourself in times of trouble?”

Listen to this psalmist. I remember after Bette Middler made the Julie Gold song “From a Distance” famous the many well meaning Christians who seemed to rebuke everyone by saying, “If God is watching from a distance, who moved?” That seems meaningful and spiritual to us, but this Psalmist would have said, “God did and I’m begging Him to come back.” This violates our sensitivities. We know Hebrews 13:5-6, which says God never forsakes us. Therefore, we fear taking up this psalmist’s cry in our prayers. We see this as despair and doubt which lead to sin. However, that is not how they are pictured in Psalm 10.

This psalmist actually contrasts the wicked and the righteous. The contrast is not that they feel God is not watching. The psalmist starts his lament with that feeling. Then he describes the wicked in Psalm 10:4-11. In vs. 11 the wicked justifies his sin by saying, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.” Just like the psalmist, he believes God hidden Himself. The difference is seen in Psalm 10:4. “In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.'”

Did you see the difference? In this psalm both the righteous and the wicked believe God has hidden his face. The wicked takes that feeling and decides God is not watching. He decides God must not exist. He uses this as justification to sin. The psalmist, on the other hand, feeling that God is hiding starts to seek for Him. By the end of the psalm, he lets his faith overrun his doubts and feelings. Even though he feels like God is hiding, he knows by faith God does see and will act. Psalm 10:14-15 says:

“But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.”

Why can this psalmist whose feelings are covered over with so much despair that he will accuse God of hiding pray this prayer? Because he truly believes God is king forever (Psalm 10:16). Because, despite his feelings in the moment, he truly believe God hears him and will act based on his prayer (Psalm 10:17). Though he doesn’t use the terms found in some other psalms, like Psalm 18:1-2 noted above. The sentiment is the same. Even in his despair he can pray because God is his rock, his refuge, his redeemer.

The Springboard for Our Spiritual Lives

These are not sentimental terms to fill our praise songs. They are whole-hearted beliefs that anchored the psalmists no matter what was happening to them and no matter how their situation made them feel. Since God was their rock and refuge, whether times were good or bad, they could rest in Him. They could cry out to Him. They knew He was there. They knew He would listen. They knew He would act. Perhaps not on their time table. But He would deliver.

When we have that faith, we will pray like they did.

The Entire Serenity Prayer

January 26, 2009 by Edwin Crozier Leave a Comment

I’ve seen what is called the “Serenity Prayer” for years. Most commonly it is attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr, written during the early 1930s. It became famous in modified form by 12 step programs. I’ve seen it cross-stitched on walls. I’ve seen it printed on posters. I’ve even seen it written on bathroom stalls.

Until recently, I thought it only contained three lines:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

That little bit of the prayer has actually helped me in numerous situations. It has kept me from blowing up at people I cannot change. It has kept me from falling prey to temptations I cannot change. It has kept me from sinking in the mire of past actions I cannot change.

However, I have learned that the original prayer/poem was a bit longer and I want to share it with you.

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world

As it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right

If I surrender to His Will;

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life

And supremely happy with Him

Forever and ever in the next.

I know this prayer is not inspired scripture. But it certainly was inspired by scripture. I want to remember this prayer. I want to remember that there are numerous things I cannot change and I need to quit wasting my time and energy trying to change those. There is something I can change, by the grace of God. That is me. May I always have the wisdom to remember that.

I want to live one day at a time (cf. Matthew 6:34) and quit trashing today by worrying about tomorrow. I want to trust that God will make all things right in His time. I want to surrender myself to His will and simply do the next right thing. Through that, I can have happiness, not through pursuing my own ideas. My best thinking messed me up. God’s thinking is what will save me and make tomorrow better.

Just thought I’d share.

The Psalms Teach Us to be Honest with Ourselves and with God

January 19, 2009 by Edwin Crozier Leave a Comment

I’ve been studying the Psalms a great deal lately. I came across this great statement from Walter Brueggemann’s Praying the Psalms. Instead of me commenting, tell me what you think about it.

“Note that the Psalms thus propose to speak about human experience in an honest, freeing way. this in contrast to much human speech and conduct which is in fact a cover-up. In most arenas where people live, we are expected and required to speak the language of safe orientation and equilibrium, either to find it so or to pretend we find it so. For the normal, conventional functioning of public life, the raw edges of disorientation and reorientation must be denied or suppressed for purposes of public equilibrium. As a result, our speech is dulled and mundane. Our passion has been stilled and is without imagination. And mostly the Holy One is not addressed, not because we dare not, but because God is far away and hardly seems important. This means that the agenda and intention of the Psalms is considerably at odds with the normal speech of most people, the normal speech of a stabled, functioning, self-deceptive culture in which everything must be kept running young and smooth.

“Against that, the speech of the Psalms is abrasive, revolutionary, and dangerous. It announces that life is not like that, that our common experience is not one of well-being and equilibrium, but a churning, disruptive experience of dislocation and relocation. Perhaps in our conventional, routinized prayer life (e.g., the daily practice of the office) that is one of the reasons the Psalter does not yield its power–because out of habit or fatigue or numbness, we try to use the Psalms in our equilibrium. And when we do that we miss the point of the Psalms. Moreover, our own experience may be left untapped and inarticulate and therefore not liberated…

“Thus I suggest that most of the Psalms can only be appropriately prayed by people who are living at the edge of our lives, sensitive to the raw hurts, the primitive passions, and the naive elations that are at the bottom of our life. For most of us, liturgical or devotional entry into the Psalms requires a real change of pace. It asks us to depart from the closely managed world of public survival, to move into the open, frightening, healing world of speech with the Holy One.”

A Prayer for Us

January 12, 2009 by Edwin Crozier 1 Comment

Just this past weekend, I read for the first time the prayer attributed to Francis of Assisi. I was almost moved to tears. I hope to make the sentiments of this prayer my own every day.

Lord, make me a channel of your peace
–that where there is hatred, I may bring love
–that where there is wrong, I may bring a spirit of forgiveness
–that where there is discord, I may bring harmony
–that where there is error, I may bring truth
–that where there is doubt, I may bring faith
–that where there is despair, I may bring hope
–that where there are shadows, I may bring light
–that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted
–to understand, than to be understood
–to love, than to be loved.

For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.

Amen

All I could say was, “WOW!” What a great encapsulation of a godly life. That is my prayer for me today. That is my prayer for you today.

May God richly bless you as you draw closer to Him. More importantly, may you richly bless God.