May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
May He send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion.
May He remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings.
May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.
– Psalm 20: 1-6, NIV
This came up in my devotions twice in the past week. I used it Sunday when I was privileged to lead our congregation in prayer. After my last post seeming a bit depressed and down, this speaks life into the dry areas of my soul.
It is a prayer for you, it is a prayer for me. I pray that we can shout for joy together in our victory – over sickness, need, fear, or whatever has us troubled and in distress – and that we can join as body of thankful believers giving praise to the One who gives us that victory.
Be well,
Steve
How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.
– Psalm 13 (NIV)
Do you ever feel forgotten? Do you feel your prayers are only bouncing off the ceiling?
I've been struggling with that for most of the last year. I've gone through about every emotion that one can go through. It's been hard to pray, to study, and as evidenced by the haphazardness of this blog – hard to even write down my thoughts.
I don't know about you but I don't really enjoy pity parties and I'm not one to go back down the road of bitterness – there's nothing there for me of any good. If it weren't for the love of friends and family – and their prayers, I might truly believe that God had forgotten about me. But I've seen too much – even and especially in the midst of this year of struggle – that tells me that God is still faithful – even when I am not.
I find that what melts my hard heart the quickest is the sound of music praising God – even when I don't feel like singing, I find that the words and music find a way into my spirit. They lift me up out of my pit enough to see beyond my situation and enough to realize that there is more to life than my own little world. Whether it be familiar hymns or current worship songs, I believe it it is like water to the soul.
Today I pray that you and I can see that God has been good to us and that we lift our voices in song praising Him.
Father, show us that You have not forgotten us. Bring to mind all that You have given us and where You have been with us all along. Thank You for our salvation, especially from
ourselves. In Jesus' Name, Amen!
Be well,
Steve
Dear God,
please untie the knots
that are in my mind,
my heart and my life.
Remove the have nots,
the can nots and the do nots
that I have in my mind.
Erase the will nots,
may nots, and
might nots that find
a home in my heart.
Release me from the could nots,
would nots and
should nots that obstruct my life.
And most of all, dear God,
I ask that you remove from my mind
my heart and my life all of the am nots
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough.
Amen.
(author known to God)
