8 Praise our God, all peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
9 he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
10 For you, God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.
13 I will come to your temple with burnt offerings
and fulfill my vows to you—
14 vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
when I was in trouble.
15 I will sacrifice fat animals to you
and an offering of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats.
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.
20 Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me! (Psalm 66:8-20)
I like playing badminton and I have been playing it for years. When I was a beginner, it did not feel like a fun activity. But as I improved, it became more and more fun. This applies to many things. Beginners usually cannot feel the enjoyment of a certain activity and will easily to abandon it in the early stage, but if they get a lot of encouragement and help, they will become better at it and the activity will become much more fun and enjoyable. So, with encouragement and experience, we are more likely to throw ourselves into the activity and really enjoy it.
In the same way we need prayer experience. In this public worship Psalm the author is calling every one to pray to God. To do it he mentions a lot of prayer experiences. God performed miracles, “He turned to sea to dry land”(v.6); God tested the people to train them so that their life would be abundant, “For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver…but you brought us to a place of abundance.” (v.10-12); God told the author how to interact with Him in prayer, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer.” (v.18-19). With these experiences, the author confidently calls all congregants to pray to God. “Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard;” (v.8), “I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you” (v.13), “Come and hear, all you who fear God” (v.16). In summary, the author points the people to pay attention to their own experiences in prayer, and to recognize what God has done in the past, so that in this moment, they may know how to connect to God in prayer.
If you feel that prayer is dull and uninspiring today and you don’t want to pray, will you try to learn from the author? Recall your experiences of prayer, allow your heart to enter into the presence of God, because the one who is accompanying and encouraging us in prayer is God Himself. He is the best guide in prayer. He will change our feeling of being a bored beginner of prayer, and He will bring us to the place of abundance.