The Psalms: Nurturing confidence in God

		Living the Scriptures  with St. Paul University  Catholic Center  Tim Kruse

Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body too, abides in confidence.

Psalm 16:9

The Psalms, the world's most beloved Prayer book. There are many good prayer books available today but no other prayer book or sacred text has nourished the spiritual longings of so many over the centuries as the Biblical book of Psalms, commonly referred to as the Psalter.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (June 27, 2004) 1 Kgs 19:16b, 19-21 Ps 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11 Gal 5:1, 13-18 Lk 9:51-62

The Psalter is made up of 150 Psalms composed for a variety of private prayer and public worship settings. In the Psalter one can find Psalms expressing virtually every human need or emotion.

There are many types of Psalms. For example, there are: Psalms of Praise, Psalms of Petition, Psalms of Lament or Sadness and as with today's responsorial Psalm (Ps. 16), Psalms of confidence.

Praying for Confidence

I frequently find myself praying things like, Lord give me confidence; confidence that you are with me, that you will help me; confidence to do my job and meet my responsibilities with optimism and joy; confidence to live with strong hope that my life is truly meaningful and not simply a random series of events; and as I find myself aging, give me special confidence that I will end my life on this earth with the sort of happy death that comes from knowing my life did have real meaning to myself, my loved ones, and most of all to you my God.

The basis of confidence

Wishing to grow in confidence, I often ask myself, "What was the basis of the great spiritual confidence of people like David or St. Paul or of the man Christ Jesus?"

In the eighth verse of today's Psalm David exclaims the basis of his rock solid hope, joy, and confidence in God:

I bless the Lord who counsels me; even in the night my heart exhorts me. I set the Lord ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.

Psalm 16:8

As with the 23rd Psalm (also a Psalm of Confidence) David here again expresses his confidence that the Lord is always with him and will faithfully guide him. I can almost imagine David praying in the temple in the early morning hours of the day. I can see David rousing himself to confidence in God:

I will bless you Lord! I know you will counsel me. You speak to my heart when in the early morning hours of the night I pray to you; indeed even in my sleep your voice whispers to my heart! Yahweh, as I go forth to meet the challenges of this day, I set you before me; with you at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.

David discovered what less famous men and woman throughout the ages have learned, that true inner confidence and assurance are fruits born and nurtured in private personal prayer.

	Reflection questions • What might I do to nurture greater confidence in God? Perhaps I could begin by praying each day one of the Psalms of Confidence (Psalms 4, 11, 23, 27, 62, 131)? • Does the Bible in general and the Psalms in particular have the place in my prayer life they deserve?

I want to encourage you not to be afraid, to have confidence that God really does love you and cares deeply about everything in your life.

Life can seem so random, so difficult. But prayer really does turn our water into wine; it gives us confidence, transforms and imbues the random events of life into the redemptive purposes of our heavenly Father.

Tim Kruse is a staff member at St. Paul University Catholic Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

St. Paul's Web site is www.stpaulscc.org

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