For years I have posted verses from the Psalms and a brief comment on Facebook and now am turning them into a blog. It is my conviction that the Psalms, as found in the Bible, are an example for us of honest communication with God. The psalmists express a wide range of emotions, circumstances, and requests. God is not afraid of our questions, doubts, or concerns. Join me as we learn from the Psalms to process our emotions through the character of God, and see him more clearly.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

21 Days of Prayer in Psalm 119 (Day #10)

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)

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

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