Read: Psalm 18:1-19

I love you, O Lord. (v. 1)

“Love” is the next metaphor by which Herbert wants to describe prayer. It is a simple enough statement, and 19 verses of a psalm might seem a lot to read for a background to it. But the Hebrew word for “love” at the beginning of Psalm 18 is an unusually strong one, and sets in motion an unstoppable gush of gratitude for what the Lord has done for David. The psalm itself, and certainly this first part of it, is alive with highly colored picture language, earthquake and storm and fire and flood, and God Most High coming down “on the wings of the wind” to scatter his enemies (v. 10). The psalm’s introduction, the unusual little paragraph that precedes verse 1, has explained what all these metaphors stand for, and verses 17-19 repeat the explanation: God’s enemies are David’s enemies, and this is about the long years of David’s exile as an outlaw, a hunted man in peril of his life, being at last brought to a triumphant end. God has been in control throughout, and the whole experience will bring glory to him and immeasurable blessing to David.

So what is this psalm? From beginning to end, a prayer both to God and about God, and a prayer that breathes an enraptured love for God. The old hymn says that if you “count your blessings . . . it will surprise you what the Lord has done”; true enough, but here is something more than just surprise!

 

Here is the poem in its entirety:

Prayer (I)

BY GEORGE HERBERT

Prayer the Church’s banquet, Angels’ age,

God’s breath in man returning to his birth,

The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,

The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth;

Engine against th’ Almighty, sinner’s tower,

Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,

The six-days-world transposing in an hour,

A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;

Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,

Exalted Manna, gladness of the best,

Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,

The milky way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood.

The land of spices; something understood.

Prayer:

When I say “I love you, Lord,” I really mean it.

Author: Michael Wilcock

 

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