Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures

Many times when we read the Psalms, we run across sections that are quite violent and claiming victory before it has happened.  Of course, the Psalmist believes God is on their side. This makes complete sense.  Dr. Maxwell Maltz, a world-renowned plastic surgeon and author of Psycho-Cybernetics coined the term “psychocybernetics” to describe such visualizations.  Okay, not all the violence, but in battle… violence makes sense. Cybernetics is the goal-striving behavior of machines and mechanical systems, and the “psycho” on the front of it causes it to be applied to the human thought processes.

Basically, Maltz says that our goal-striving mechanisms seek to accomplish the pictures created in our imagination.  This goal-striving mechanism cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy.  It needs images to be vivid to work effectively.

In That Winning Feeling! by Jane Savoie (reserve rider for 1992 US Olympic Dressage Team, coach for US team at 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics) goes into how we can apply the psychocybernetics principles to our daily lives in order to achieve our goals. Although this seems like something that is relatively new, it is not.  We see it being played out in the Psalms, as well as in every  motivational speech that we hear before any sports activity.  We are to visualize our victory.  We are to go out there and play like we are already the winners.  This doesn’t mean to slack off, but to do everything possible to bring our visualizations into reality. In other words, it makes sense for the Psalms to carry these violent tones and to claim victories.  Who goes into battle desiring to lose?  Who sets up tactical defenses with the hope that they fail?  The Psalmist is claiming victory, visualizing how God is on their side and helping them.  It does not matter if the Psalmist is reminding the people of past events, the pictures are so vivid that the mind remembers the joy of victory and strives to achieve it again.

The palmists are not afraid to let their emotions flow through and have a one-on-one talk with God. I think a valuable lesson is demonstrated by the psalmists. We can strive to have a real and personal relationship with God through Christ by not placing artifical boundaries between ourselves and God. Everday is not filled with the pleasantries we desire and there is no need to bottle the disappointments of life inside. It’s OK to have a heart to heart conversation with God, letting him know our hopes, hurts, struggles and pains. After all if we can’t be real with our risen Lord and Savior, who can we trust?