Praying For Help To Walk With God Through All The Ups And Downs Of Life

During these weeks of Lent one of the resources I’m reading every day is a little book called, “The Psalm 119 Experience:  A Devotional Journey You Will Not Forget.”  If you have read the Psalms much you will know that they are poems and prayers written thousands of years ago and which seem to address pretty much any experience we can find ourselves facing – highs, lows, joys, sorrows, success, troubles – the list goes on,

Rising to the top in this compilation of 150 entries is Psalm 119 – the longest book in the Bible – and very near to the center of the Bible, by the way – a series of 8 verse stanzas that were each linked to the Hebrew alphabet – each stanza starting with a different letter of that alphabet.  But, whatever the organization and placement of those verses in the Bible, it’s the content that is so refreshing – and challenging. 

Each verse of the 176 verses, with just a couple of exceptions, says something about the word of God.  It may use precepts, commandments, laws, instructions – a whole variety of words – but nonetheless they speak about what God is speaking to us.  This is the God who created the universe who loves You and I so much that He sent Jesus to suffer and die for us so we could know how loved we are and have an opportunity to reestablish the loving and lifegiving relationship with God that He always intended us to have.  Who wouldn’t long to hear what someone who loves them this much wants to say to them?  Who wouldn’t pay attention and adjust how they are doing things to match what that person is instructing them in love. 

Listen to these words that relate to our Loving God’s words to us: 

Lord, you are mine! I promise to obey your words!  With all my heart I want your blessings. Be merciful as you promised. I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your laws.  I will hurry, without delay, to obey your commands.

Evil people try to drag me into sin, but I am firmly anchored to your instructions. I rise at midnight to thank you for your just regulations. I am a friend to anyone who fears you—anyone who obeys your commandments. O Lord, your unfailing love fills the earth; teach me your decrees.  Psalm 119:57-64

Let’s pray in response to that:

Lord, we are so glad that we can say, “You are mine.”  As the little chorus says, “I am my beloved’s and He is mine, His banner over me is love.”  We are always amazed that You choose to pay attention to us and love us because You know all the “ins and outs” of our thinking, our desiring, our reacting, our behaving – all of it.  Nothing is hidden from Your gaze.

With the person who wrote this Psalm we want to tell You again today that we promise to obey your words.  We know that when we do we will be blessed and nothing is better than living in Your blessing – nothing even comes close.  We also know how often we fail to obey and stand in need of Your mercy and forgiveness – a gift You are so ready to give us when we turn to You with a humble heart.

Lord, help us again today to take time to read and think about what You are saying.  Help us to spend long enough with Your words to really hear them in our hearts so we are anchored in the right way to think, desire, choose, and act. 

And then Lord, I love that little line that says, “I will hurry, without delay, to obey your commands.”  There’s something so pure and so trusting in a person who hurries, without delay, to follow an instruction.  Give us hearts so completely enjoying You and trusting You that we hurry, without delay, to put into practice anything we know You are asking us to do today.  Help us to respond in joy because You only ask those things of us that bring good to us – even if it is a hard or challenging thing to do in the moment. 

Evil people try to drag me into sin, but I am firmly anchored to your instructions. I rise at midnight to thank you for your just regulations. I am a friend to anyone who fears you—anyone who obeys your commandments. O Lord, your unfailing love fills the earth; teach me your decrees. 

When others around us are sliding into shady behaviour that goes against Your word, help us to remain firmly anchored in Your instructions.  Holy Spirit keep us sensitive to the many ways this is going on in our lives every day in this broken sinful society in which we live. 

We know that it is the desire of Your heart that Your unfailing love fills the earth and each heart of each person.  Well, help us to follow Your principles in such a way that we contribute to that plan today in the way that You intend.  We can’t see the big picture that You have in mind, but we can trust Your heart as You bring one situation and then the next to us and speak quietly in our hearts about what our part is and what the next right thing for us looks like.  We know that if we will just make those simple choices for your way one moment at a time, You will bring together a plan and a purpose that is wonderful where Your love is clearly seen to more and more fill the earth.  Amen

I want to be part of what God is doing today to fill the whole earth with His unfailing love.  Don’t you?  Let’s give all that we have to God today to see more of that.