Learning to Pray in Language I
Psalm 86
“Prayer is the language of the people who are in trouble and know it, and who believe or hope that God can get them out.” (Eugene Peterson, Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer, 36)
Psalm 86 is a perfect example of Peterson’s quote. David is in trouble, and he knows it, even if he barely mentions it in this short prayer. Only two of the 17 verses mention the trouble: insolent men have risen up against him, a band of ruthless men seek his life (14) and David calls upon the Lord in the day of his trouble (7).
David is convinced that the Lord can get him out of his trouble. In these 17 verses, David makes numerous confessions of whom He believes God to be: good and forgiving (5), abounding in steadfast love (8), the One who works uniquely (8), creator of the nations (9), great and does wondrous things (10), great in steadfast love (13), merciful and gracious (15), slow to anger (15), and faithful (15). I count twelve unique attributes of God in this short prayer.
But the primary reason David believes that God can get him out of his trouble is because of God’s past work to do just that. Call it thanksgiving or remembrance, but his testimony of what God has done for him in the past saturates this prayer. In the past, God has delivered his soul from the depths (13), and the Lord has helped him and comforted him (17).
Because of God’s faithfulness in the past, David speaks very personally about how God is a present help in times of trouble. Consider all of the ways David personally expects to experience God’s presence: answer me (1), preserve my life (2), save Your servant (2), gladden my soul (3), give ear to my prayer (6), listen to my plea (6), teach me Your way (11), I give thanks to You (12), turn to me and be gracious (16), give strength to Your servant (16), save the son of Your maidservant (16), and show me a sign of Your favor (17). David either has great audacity to expect the One True God (10) to pay attention to him, or he has a track record of knowing that the One True God does pay attention to him.
I appreciate the small prayer within the prayer in verse 11: unite my heart to fear Your name. Even as David confesses who he believes God to be, and even as he remembers God’s faithfulness to him in the past, there was a portion of his heart that might have doubted. Fear and trouble can do that to even the best of us. I believe; help my unbelief.
In Answering God, Peterson describes the three levels of language.
Language I is the language of personal intimacy and relationship. This is the first kind of language we learn. It doesn’t even have to be articulate. The coos of a newborn will do. The content is not important for it is “more than adequate to express complex and profound love” (37).
Language II is the language of information. The world is “wonderfully various, and our language enables us to account for it, to recognize what is here and how it is put together” (38). This is the language we are taught in schools.
Language III is the language of motivation. “Words have the power to make things happen” (38). We learn to use our words to move others, and we are often moved by others through their language. Clean the kitchen. Pick up your toys. The report is due by Wednesday. Language III is the predominant language of advertising and politics.
Peterson’s point is that while we learn Language I in the cradle, as we progress in life, we are less encouraged to use it. We learn the language of information and motivation, for this is how we survive in school and the marketplace. We might recover Language I when we fall in love, but as the “puppy love” stage fades away, so does Language I.
The problem is that Language I is the language of the Psalms and the language of prayer. God does not need to be informed, nor does He need to be motivated, but that is how we tend to pray. The majority of our prayer time is spent informing God about Aunt Ida’s upcoming hip surgery, as if He had no idea it was going to happen or what He should do about it.
But notice how little time David spent informing God about his problem. This song is not about information but about intimacy. This is who I know You to be. This is how I have experienced You in the past. This is why I am trusting in You. You are beautiful to me. Your love amazes me. I trust You. Language I.
As Peterson writes,
“Our habit is to pray in these more easily handled languages. This is fatal to prayer. Informational language is not prayer language. Motivation language is not prayer language. To pray in these languages is, in effect, not to pray. We must let the Psalms train us in prayer language—the language of intimacy, of relationship, of “I and Thou,” of personal love” (40).
May the Lord use the Psalms to teach us to pray in Language I.
Eugene Peteron, Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer, New York: HarperCollins, 1989.