Prayer To Find and Affirm Our Stability In God
Sunday July 26, 2020
FINDING STABILITY IN GOD
I love the book of Psalms in the Bible. It’s filled with the reality of life – the ups, the downs, the gratitude, the complaints, the important, and even what seems a bit silly to me.
In Psalm 16 – one of my favorites – we find the writer King David making a request of God, “Keep me safe my God, for in you I take refuge.” We don’t know exactly what David was facing that had his need for God in front of his eyes. It could have been enemy attacks, sickness, death, troubles, just like in our lives. Troubles of various kinds come to each one of us. David is a great model for us in the present moment because faced with trouble HE TURNS HIS ATTENTION TO GOD and says “Help. I need the safety and protection only you can provide.”
Then he does what I think it would be helpful for us to do. He remembers and reminds Himself of who God is and how God has been there for Him through the years.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
Psalm 16:2-7
What do we call to mind and where do we focus our thoughts when troubles come? Do we immediately remember how God has been good to us, how he has blessed us, how he has provided for us, how he has been there for us in the dark times, the nights, and showed us a way forward?
Where is our focus today? On what’s wrong? On what unsteady and uncertain? On what we don’t know I don’t understand? On what’s not making sense? On what we see, hear, or read about? Or on our faithful God who always has been and always will be with us and for us.
Let’s pray:
Lord, today along with King David we want to:
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 16:8
No matter what happens You are God, You are our God, and You are with us as You always have been. We have a history of You being good to us, of You providing for our needs and bringing us through many years up to today. Most of that time has been filled with good things along with a sprinkling of the difficult. When the going has been tough, You’ve been there to go through the dark times with us. When we didn’t know what to do and called out to You, You gave us counsel as we quieted our hearts in Your loving presence and listened for Your voice.
And so today, even though many things are unknown we want to reaffirm our faith in You and our trust in Your goodness. With King David we say with confidence:
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me
to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:9-11
God, You know we are in desperate need of You today. We cannot face this life on our own and hope to be successful. Thank You for the Lord Jesus who has opened a way for us to experience Your presence and Your power in every part of our lives, every day of our life. Help us, Holy Spirit, to keep our eyes on Jesus, no matter what we face. Amen
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