Read Psalm 119:73-80
“Request”
Let
your steadfast love comfort me
according to your promise to your servant.
Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;
for your law is my delight. (v. 76-77)
according to your promise to your servant.
Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;
for your law is my delight. (v. 76-77)
This stanza is filled with the faith of the psalmist making an
extended request of the Lord. If,
as the psalmist believes, the Lord
was one who had made and sustained him then the Lord was the one to ask for
understanding. After acknowledging the affliction from the previous stanza he
launches into a five-fold request translated using the word “Let” or “May” that
indicates an openness/readiness/eagerness to God doing what God does so well.
Where does he start? For what does he ask? He requests
- Love—that God’s love would comfort him in his circumstances. (v.76)
- Mercy—that God in his mercy would not only spare his life but bring new life. (v.77)
- Justice—that God would humble the proud and those who accuse falsely (v.78).
- Witness—that God would give him the opportunity to testify to others of the goodness and faithfulness of God as revealed in his word, influencing the next generation for the Lord (v.74, 79).
- Devotion—that his own heart might be whole and undivided in its dependence upon the Lord so that he might not become that which is shameful (v.80).
These requests
are “according to the will of God” and thus we can with certainty expect to see
them come to pass…in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.
“And
this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if
we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears
us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of
him.” (1 John
5:14-15)
Let’s pray for these
kinds of requests this year…requests that don’t originate in our deceitful
hearts but in the very heart of God for us!
O Lord, how we
need understanding in a day filled to overflowing with foolish knowledge. We
long to be comforted by your love and quickened by your mercy. We wait for your
justice on the arrogant and pray that you would keep us from being counted
among them. Lord, may your direct our lives so that we be favorable witnesses to
your goodness and redemptive mission in the word, and may your Spirit of grace
keep us close to your heart so that we may finish well the course you have set before
us. We know that there is no way we can live blameless without making requests
of you. Thank you for hearing us and supplying that which we need to be
faithful. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment