trusted online casino malaysia
Realizing the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom of God.
Crosfigell

A Song for Every Need

The psalms are God's gift to us for prayer

And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.

  
- 2 Chronicles 29.30

The monastic family of Ruadan consisted of three fifties continually; and they received their livelihood without any human exertion on their part, save only prayer and intercession of the Creator, and the daily performance of divine psalmody, in praising the Lord continually for the manner in which they received their sustenance.

   - Anonymous, Life of Ruadan, Irish, 17th century from an earlier ms.

It’s not clear whether the “three fifties” referred to above relates to the 150 psalms or the number of monks Ruadan maintained in his monastic family. The excerpt does clearly indicate, however, that singing and praying the psalms was a continuous feature in the monastery of this 6th century saint, one of the original “twelve apostles of Ireland.” 

The psalms contain prayers and songs to speak to our every need. They are God’s gift to us for prayer, divinely-inspired texts, scripts, and scores to use in pouring out our hearts before the Lord. In Hezekiah’s day, when the temple was being restored and the nation was returning to its proper covenant relationship with God, the king thought it essential that the songs of Asaph should be included with the many psalms of David as part of the daily worship. A casual glance at those psalms – 50, 73-83 – will show you why. They remind us of what happens when the people of God stray from Him, and they call on the Lord to revive His people continuously. 

Ruadan must have known as much as well.

Praying and singing the psalms can enrich, enlarge, and expand your prayer life like nothing else. They guide us into new sectors of the landscape of unseen things, meet us in our darkest affections and lift us to bright hope through praise, remind us of the needs of the poor and the persecuted, teach us how to pray for the enemies of the faith, and help us to rest in the steadfast love and faithfulness of God, Who providentially provides for all our needs.

If you’re struggling in prayer, take up the psalms. Learn to make these holy words your own. Sing them throughout the day. Make appointments with God to converse with Him over one of these precious but powerful hymns. You will find, in a short while, that your prayers have become more vivid, more intense, and more a delight as you engage God’s own words with yours in the sweet communion of the psalms.

Psalm 98.4-6 (Duke Street: “Come, Let Us Sing Unto the Lord”)
Raise to the Lord your loudest voice!
Break forth and sing! Rejoice! Rejoice!
Praise, praise to You, our God and King
With all our hearts and strength we bring!

 Lord, let your psalms lead me, as I come to You, kneeling in prayer. Adapted from Anonymous, “St. Columba’s Island Hermitage”

T. M. Moore, Principal
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

[1] Plummer, p. 311.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters

Sign up to receive our email newsletters and read columns about revival, renewal, and awakening built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification.