Psalms for Praying:
An Invitation to Wholeness
Nan Merrill
Tenth Anniversary Edition
Review by Barbara Harcourt

As the author is quick to point out, this work is not a translation of the Psalms. Rather, it is a “dialogue” between Merrill and the scripture.

Merrill’s focus is on peace and the unity of mankind. Once the author’s perspective is understood, the reader no longer seeks the familiar wording of favorite psalms and begins to look more deeply to her discernment of God’s call to individuals and groups of people. For Merrill, God is primarily the Beloved. The Holy Ghost seeks always to lodge in our loving hearts. The Preface states, “To pray is to be transformed. We become One in the Silence with pray-ers from every country who are scattering seeds of love and light into the chaos; thus, we blanket the world with a web of peace.”

I have only recently begun to include readings from this book in my quiet time. However, friends have used Psalms for Praying over a period of years to enrich their prayer life. One way of utilizing the book is to read each psalm first from a traditional translation and then as Merrill interprets it. Also, the reader could write their own response to each reading.

All in all, I would recommend Psalms for Praying as a book which offers a renewed vision of God’s eternal love through the lens of the great hymnbook of the Old Testament.

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
~ Isaiah

If you want to fall in love with and rejoice in the sovereignty of God, you cannot go wrong reading the works of Christian Reconstructionists whose literature flourished in the 70’s and 80’s. Notably: R.J. Rushdoony, Gary North, and Ray Sutton.  Besides recommending a CR library, I would like to review and recommend three specific books on the subject.  Each is very readable, having short chapters and assuming a broad audience.  Each would be suitable as a devotional or a Bible study.

Almighty Over All by R.C. Sproul Jr. is a series of essays addressing a spectrum of topics in terms of God’s Power such as: creation, history, rulers, details, Satan, and suffering.  Only in the final chapters are redemption and sanctification addressed, reminding us that God is in charge not only in terms of 5 Points of Grace, but in terms of 5000 Points of Everything. The chapter, Not Almighty Over Himself answers the question, “can God make a rock so big He that he can not lift it.”  Sproul answers not “yes” or “no” but, “why would God want to?”  God is One.  His will and character are not divided, but are in perfect harmony.  His power as “Creator” is not at odds with His power as “Mover”.  R.C. reminds us that God cannot do all things; but, rather, God does all His holy will.  Certainly, God can not lie.  Likewise, He cannot contradict himself.  Creaturely morality and logic ‘work’ only secondarily because God’s logic is prior to man’s logic – He is originally Holy and Reasonable.

Where Almighty Over All has the feel of classroom instruction, Easy Chairs and Hard Words by Douglas Wilson has the feel of a living room conversation.  It, too, surveys a spectrum of topics relating to God’s sovereignty.  It is written as a series of conversation between a baptistic young Christian and a ‘Calvinist’ pastor.  The conversation turn immediately onto the question of eternal security and moves through a series of discussions that might flow from that first conversation: is God the author of sin? gifts and wages, two kinds of freedom, God in the dock, and hard mercies are but a few of the chapters.  The young man is “conveniently” left with Scripture reading for further study along the way.  Doug Wilson, while paying close attention to the Doctrines of Grace, never the less builds a comprehensive case for the total sovereignty of God.

While the previous two authors are not Reconstructionists, Gary North certainly is.  He and his father-in-law R. J. Rushdoony are rightly considered the founders of that school of thought. 
75 Bible Questions Your Instructors Pray You Won’t Ask is Gary at his best.  WARNING: Gary North does not write for the faint of heart!  75 Bible Questions is no exception.  Arranged into three parts, Gary North presents a case for 3 specific applications of the fact of God’s sovereignty: salvation, arguing for the doctrines of grace; law, arguing for theonomy; and history, arguing for an optimistic and postmillennial eschatology. Twenty-five questions are given for each of the three subjects according to the following pattern: a pointed question, then Gary’s answer, followed by a common objection, then Gary’s final response, concluding with suggested Scripture readings.  A bibliography is provided for further study.  A supplement is also provided reprinting excerpts from historic creeds upon which his position is based: Anglican, Baptist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Reformed, and Presbyterian.

This trio of books on the sovereignty of God is an indispensable addition to any library, toolbox, or arsenal - whichever you prefer.  May theology always lead us to doxology!
Dan

R. C. Sproul: “The Soul’s Quest For God:
Satisfying the hunger for spiritual communion with God”

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Il, 60189, 1992

In his preface, Sproul sets the theme of the book.  Something is missing from the life of the Church. . .a depth of spiritual communion with God. . .in worship and Christian life there is a sense of the absence of God.

We are spiritually hungry and thirsty though Jesus’ work is to feed the hungry and give drink. Jesus has not changed: the Church has neglected Jesus’ teaching and the biblical pattern for spiritual growth.  In the eleven chapters that follow, Sproul explains the spiritual hunger and its remedy.

Chapter I: RESTLESS HEARTS

O Lord, Thou hast created us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until thy find their rest in Thee.”  St. Augustine.  The soul is on a spiritual pilgrimage toward rest in Christ.     The spiritual pilgrimage is one of both the head and the heart. The mind must know God deeply before the heart can be inflamed.  To know God is to love him.   Jesus said, “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

Chapter 2: Sweetness and Honey - Loving the Word of God

His Spirit awakens the soul to God as he pierces our souls with the Word of God.  First God indwells by the Spirit then a man is able to stand and hear the Word of God; it become sweetness and honey, the illumination we must seek.

CHAPTER 3 Divine Illumination: THE SECRET OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS.

The New England Puritans experienced the Great Awakening; they were a people who were vigorous in their pursuit of personal holiness.   Matthew 16:7   Peter was blessed when he comprehended the Word in Jesus of Nazareth.  Apprehending right doctrine is the beginning of illumination.

“The Word of God can be in the mind without being in the heart; but it cannot be in the heart without first being in the mind.” (P. 61) Obedience is the fruit of this marvelous operation of the Holy Spirit, who works in and through the Word.

Chapter 4: The Witness of the Holy Spirit

Spiritual discernment is a gift of the Spirit - I Corinthians 2:10-11.  Jesus is the Illuminator: Luke 24:17-19,24-26-27,32.  After Jesus explains the Scripture, our mind is illumined, our hearts inflamed.

CHAPTER 5    Loving the Law of god.
Psalm 119:97-103 cf Ezra 9:11    Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”  The Law keeps us from “going out of the Way.” (Romans 3:12)  Jesus is the true light (John 1:9) upholding the Law (Matthew 5:17-19.  John 14:21, Romans 17:12,14.   The first function of law according to Calvin is to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24) as a pedagogue.   Augustine said: “The utility of the law is, that it convinces man of his weakness, and compels him to apply for the medicine of grace, which is in Christ.”
The second function of the Law is to act as a restraint against unbridled wickedness.
The third function is revelatory - it shows the Holiness of God and what he desires in us.   Deuteronomy 32:46-47

CHAPTER 6   THE OBEDIENT SOUL
We pursue models - I Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”
Mary   Luke 1:38   This second Eve was given grace, the indwelling of the Spirit - Luke 1:35.  Luke 1:28, 41-42, 48.   The grace filled soul overflows with praise, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.”  Luke 1:46-47.   Mary is a model of humility, obedience, devotion, and worship. She persevered, even to the cross and suffering that sign of contradiction where she too was pierced.   (Luke 2:34-35)

CHAPTER 7: THE MODEL OF JOSEPH

CHAPTER 8: THE SOUL AND ITS VALUE
Matthew 16:26 Nothing we can gain will equal the value of the soul.
In an age where we no longer talk of ethics, but “value systems” the soul has been devalued. Matthew 10:28.  To value soul is to attend diligently to its nurture and growth so it may move from grace to grace and from life to life.

CHAPTER 9; THE FEEDING OF THE SOUL
The means of Grace are Romans 3:2-3 - Oracles of God; I Corinthians 1:27-29- Prophetic Teachers; John 8:31-32 The Truth; John 4:23 Worship - The lips reveal the state of the heart’ Prayer and praise; Fellowship; Sacraments; liturgy, music and architecture.

CHAPTER 10: BARRIERS TO PROGRESS
Are we seeking after God?  Is God hidden?  Or are we fugitives, hiding from God who pursues us as the Hound of Heaven, the Good Shepherd who goes searching for that lost sheep? Such barriers as we encounter are of our making. Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom.   The assurance of salvation is from the Spirit.  Romans 8:15-16. The hungry souls find nurture and the weary a resting place with the Word and through the Word.

CHAPTER 11: THE SOUL’S FINAL DESTINATION
Happiness, Blessedness is a grace - we receive it by degrees as we are sanctified.  The completion of sanctification is glorification that is our appointed end in eternity. - Romans 8:30.    Romans 9:23   The pure in hear shall see God.  (Matthew 5:8)  
Each of the beatitudes includes a category of people possessing a specific virtue followed by a divine promise of reward. The humble are promised the kingdom of heaven. The mourning will be comforted. The merciful will receive mercy.
The beatific vision is promised to the pure in heart - this holiness is essential to see God. Hebrews 12:14.
We have Cain’s curse (Genesis 4:13-14), unable to perceive the face of God, we are exiles living East of Eden. We worship and serve an unseen God.  Our hearts remain restless (Exodus 33:18-19) To see God, Moses had to stand in a place near God, on a rock, in the cleft of the rock, and Moses had to be covered (Exodus 33:21-23) - only after that could he catch a glimpse of God’s glory.

WHY IS GOD INVISBLE TO US?
He is “immortal, invisible” (I Timothy 1:17.
In the earthly tabernacle, we cannot see beyond the veil.
The promise of the beatific vision is not to those with strong eyes but to those with pure hearts.  The blessed pure in heart shall see God.  (I John 3:1-3)
Amazing Grace - God bestows adoption - now we are sons of God.
The goal of our sanctification is to be conformed to the image of Christ, to be like him.  We are to be holy as God is holy.  Sanctification is a gift - grace given us by God.   We will know as we are known, and see Him as He is.

In the enjoyment of the beatific vision the soul finally reaches the goal of its supreme quest.  At last when we enter into that haven where we find peace and rest, we shall see him as he is when we are welcomed, “Well done thou good and faithful servant inherit the Kingdom.”

Submitted by Charles Scott 0716/2007