Mike’s Reviews > Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer > Status Update

“They are wrongheaded because our heat needs to be prayed, not suppressed… but if it is not admitted, it can quickly and easily metamorphose into evil that provokes it…”

“The psalmists are angry people.”

“ The enemies that Jesus loved and prayed for killed him.”

“Left to ourselves, we are never more selfish than when we pray. With God as the Great Sympathizer, the Great Giver, the Great Promiser we go to our knees & indulge every impulse for gratification. But the psalms that teach us to pray… embed all our prayers in liturgy. Liturgy defends us against the commonest diseases of prayer: the tyranny of our emotions, the isolation of our pride.”

The Psalms instruct, train, immerse us in the answering speech which is our part in the exchange of words by which are being in the image of God and redemption by the blood of Christ is formed internally into maturity.”

Chapter 2 is incredible!

“But God’s word has this aimed, intentional, personal nature… they are torah and we are the target… These are words we take in – words designed for shaping new life in us, feeding the energies of salvation”

“Meditation is mastication.”

“We get ourselves ready to pray by looking at a tree, a transplant tree, and seeing ourselves in it.”

“The extravagant claim is that the Psalms are necessary… If we wish to develop in the life of faith, to mature in our humanity, and to glorify God, with our entire heart, mind, soul, and strength, the psalms are necessary.”