As a young Christian I relished the Book of Psalms.
How it spoke to me and enriched me! In each psalm I heard God’s voice! It wasn't till much later in life, whilst listening to a friend on a number of
occasions expound on the value, theology and historical use of the Psalms, that
I understood its value more fully.
Shortly afterward, I was asked to deliver a series of
30 minute radio talks on Christian growth and could think of nothing better
than the Psalms as theme. The series amounted to about 80 of such talks, most of
which featured a psalm or part of a psalm. I have since been urged to edit
these talks for publication; a task yet to be attempted. Nevertheless, within
this book I have included several of these psalms suitably edited.
Consequently, what we have in Hear my voice is a collection of
meditations on prayer and selected psalms; the two subjects obviously being
related. To begin, we review the purpose and practice of prayer, followed by studies
on selections of Jesus’ teaching on prayer and other prayers from the NT,
especially those of St Paul. The first section concludes with a chapter on the
real spiritual warfare. In the second section we muse on several psalms and their
relationship to our life of faith. The Book of Psalms, of course, is the prayer
and song book of the Bible, and was used as such by the Early Church. The
Psalms provide for us a similar function, and, as they did for Jesus, a voice that is heard by God.
Finally, in Peterson’s translation of Matthew 11: 29-30,
we find the delightful expression ‘unforced rhythms of grace’ describing life
with Jesus. This life has prayer and the Psalms at its heart. Rather than a
discipline or chore, our devotion likewise is meant to be, and is indeed an
‘unforced rhythm of grace’. As we travel through these meditations, may we find
that rhythm as the Spirit leads and inspires; a rhythm of hearing God’s voice
then finding our own, especially through the Psalms, to offer to him.
Richard Roy –
September 2014
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