Prayer, like contentment, doesn’t come naturally to us. It is an art to be learned in the school of grace. Thankfully, God has seen fit to help us by putting a prayer book in the middle of our Bibles called the Psalms. The Psalms can help us in our pursuit of a life of devotion to God, since the Psalms are filled with pages of God-glorifying prayers of adoration, thanksgiving, confession, and supplication (the famous ACTS acronym). We also find affective prayers strewn throughout the Psalter, as well as lamenting complaints the Psalmists bring to God in the midst of their distresses.
In this post, I want to cover what I think are the four most common petitions in the Psalms. For the sake of clarity and memory, we can put these common petitions into four categories:
Prayers of Invocation
Prayers for Instruction
Prayers for Intervention
Prayers of Imploration
Due to the frequency of these prayers in the Psalter, it cannot seriously be doubted that God wants our prayers to be characterized by these specific kinds of petitions.
Prayers of invocation are those prayers in which the Psalmists ask God to hear them. One does not have to look far to find examples of the Psalmists invoking God, asking Him to incline His ear. Here are some examples, drawn from each of the five books of the Psalter:
Psalm 4:1: “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!”
Psalm 54:2: “Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth.”
Psalm 84:8: “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob!”
Psalm 102:1, 2: “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come to you… Incline Your ear to me.”
Psalm 143:1: “Hear my prayer, O LORD, Give ear to my supplications!”
Prayers for instruction are those prayers in which the Psalmists ask God to instruct them in His truth. Here are some examples:
Psalm 25:4-5: Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation…”
Psalm 27:11: “Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.”
Psalm 86:11: “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.”
Psalm 143:10: “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good.Lead me in the land of uprightness.”
Psalm 119 can also be classified as an instruction Psalm on steroids, with requests for God to teach the Psalmist found all over (c.f. Psalm 119:12, 26, 33, 64, 66, 68, 108, 124, 135, 171).
Prayers for intervention are those prayers in which the Psalmists ask God to give them needed help in particular situations. Examples include prayers for God to rise up:
Psalm 3:7: “Arise, O LORD; Save me, O my God!”
Psalm 44:26: “Arise for our help, and redeem us for your mercies’ sake.”
Psalm 82:8: “Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit the nations.”
Examples also include prayers like, “How long?”
Psalm 13:1-2: “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will You hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily. How long will my enemy be exalted over me?”
Psalm 79:5: “How long, LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?”
Psalm 90:13: “Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on your servants?”
Finally, the Psalms are also filled with prayers of imploration. These are prayers where the Psalmists implore God to show His mercy. The most famous of these prayers is found in Psalm 51:1. As David confessed his adultery and murder, he said, “Have mercy upon me, O God.”
Here are some other examples:
Psalm 6:2: “Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak…”
Psalm 41:4: “I said, 'LORD, be merciful to me. Heal my soul for I have sinned against you…'”
Psalm 123:3: “Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy upon us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.”
In conclusion, these four basic categories of prayer (invocation, instruction, intervention, and imploration) should form a deep and abiding place in our own prayer lives.
Do you ask God to hear/listen, teach/instruct, help/save, and show mercy to you?
Abounding Grace Radio