When you seem to go numb in prayer or just need some depth, pick up a psalm and pray through it. You can’t go wrong praying the Bible! Why not pray through Psalm 27? Here are a few lessons we learn about praying from this great chapter of the Bible.
Prayer increases our confidence. David declares in Psalm 27:13, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!” Like you and I, David was surrounded by countless problems – the burdens of kingship, his enemies, friends, family, his own heart. But David would not lose hope. Neither should we. The “land of the living” is Heaven. But we also have hope here in this life. We pray and we believe. We believe that we will look on our “boundlessly good” God.
Next, prayer reminds us that it’s okay to wait. Psalm 27 ends with a double “wait for the LORD.” “Wait” is the Old Testament word for “trust”. But it’s a forward-looking patient trust. “Wait” is “hope” – that neck-straining-forward-on-tip-toes anticipation of what you know is coming. In prayer, we don’t wait for the Lord’s gifts, but we wait for the Lord himself. He often retains his gifts. Or we often wait for the wrong thing. But we never will be disappointed if we wait for God himself. God has his own calendar and knows what and when and how much to give.
Finally, prayer supplies strength. “Be strong and let your heart take courage” is the way David says “Amen” at the end of this great prayer (v14). From the opening line of this psalm, David has been talking about himself – I, my, me. But he knew that others would learn from this prayer, so he turns to “you” – to us as we sing Psalm 27 as our prayer. Prayer assumes our weakness. We pray because we can’t do it ourselves. Prayer might not change our circumstances (though it may), but it makes our hearts strong and gives us courage because we spend time looking at the face of the LORD, who is our light and our salvation.