CT Article on the Psalms

Christianity Today has just published an excellent article on praying the Psalms by Ben Patterson. Patterson recounts his own experience of learning more about prayer by praying the Psalms. This is an excellent article which makes me interested to check out the book from which this article is drawn- God's Prayer Book: The Power and Pleasure of Praying the Psalms.

Here are a few quotes from the article:

“My problem with the Psalms was my problem with prayer: There was too much ‘me and Jesus’ in my praying, and there needed to be a lot more ‘we and Jesus.’”

“Enter the Psalms: I may not personally be in the dark pit the man who prayed Psalm 88 was in, but there are many who were and are this very moment, my sisters and brothers in the persecuted church worldwide. We are part of the same body; we are family in a family closer and more enduring than any earthly family. The psalm enables me to enter into real fellowship with them, whether or not I ever meet them on earth, whether or not I ever experience personally what they experience. Their experiences are ours.”

“I started reading and praying the Psalms like a child learning how to read, learning a new "vocabulary, a grammar, and a plot line"—discovering a family tree I didn't know I had.”