Psalms - A Serious Prayer Book

Some people think of Psalms as a book of songs, of poems.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Psalms - The Prayer Book of the Bible sees Psalms as a book that helps us learn to pray.  He says, "...it is a dangerous error ... to think that the heart can pray by itself..... Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one's heart.  It means rather to find the way to God and speak with him....  The child learns to speak because his father speaks to him....  So we learn to speak to God because God has spoken to us and speaks to us."


Deep and profound thoughts.  I am currently reading this book to learn how to pray, how to speak God's language.

There are a lot of great Psalms, Psalm 127:1-2 is one of my favorites.  The success of any endeavor depends on whether God wants it done.  It is useless to work long and hard unless we know that God is in, is leading, is present in the work that we are doing.