James 24:7

V

The Psalms provide a vocabulary for prayer.

While a case can be made that prayer is the totality of a life lived as an offering to God, we do also identify as prayer those moments when we actually speak to God.  

We speak to God with our mouths in two ways: through gestures-grunts, groans, sighs, cries and anguised shouts- and with words.  While the gestures may stand alone as prayer, words are always nestled in gesture. 

All prayers are songs. 

We do not offer God words alone.  We offer God words couched in gesture.   In what gesture did the Psalmist couch: "My God, my God why has thou forsaken me?"  Anger?  Despair?  Disappointment?  Frustration?    Did the Psalmist sigh those words or cry those words?

While we may not always be able to determine gesture from a text, we can learn the words of the text, the vocabulary of the text.  Those words can infuse our prayers and broaden our range of expression.

The Psalms provide a vocabulary of praise, of confession, and of contrition.   They teach us the words to use when we address God and express our thoughts and emotions about God and about our lives. 

Think about the vocabulary of praise.  The Psalmists (at least in our English translations!) use words like "praise", "extol", "bless",  and "worship."  Each of those words expresses praise and yet each word provides nuance to our praise.  As we learn the vocabulary of praise we are freed to address God and express ourselves.

"I praise You God;

I extol Your name.

I bless You, Lord

And worship You."

Think about that little prayer of praise.  Do the different synonyms of praise suggest even slightly different things or are they all the same?