A short reading and prayers for today
Answer my prayers, O Lord, for your unfailing love is wonderful. Take care of me, for your mercy is so plentiful. Don’t hide from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in deep trouble!
Psalm 69:16-17 NLT
Waiting is never easy. Whether you are waiting for a phone call, a parcel or medical results, waiting can be exhausting. And if life is going really badly then waiting is even more agonising. That’s exactly how we find King David in this psalm. Things are going disastrously badly for him. He begins the psalm by saying that the floodwaters are up to his neck. He feels that he is sinking deeper and deeper into the mire and that he can’t find a foothold. I guess we’ve all had times like that, and it isn’t pleasant. David clearly feels overwhelmed and disorientated and, in his despair, he cries out to God.
In his long life, David had learnt to be completely honest with God and this is one of many psalms in which he holds nothing back. He is absolutely exhausted, and he gives a graphic account of his condition. He says that his eyes are swollen with weeping and that the people who hate him without cause are more than the hairs on his head. This is all very distressing and our hearts go out to him but, amidst it all, he is confident that God is listening to him. Later on in the psalm he praises God that he hears the cries of the needy and that he would save his people. He had no doubt that God would reach out and bless him however tough things were.
It would be pointless to pretend that waiting is easy. It isn’t. But when we know the nature of God then we can wait with confidence. Our waiting is still very demanding but when we know that he will definitely respond to our prayers, then our times of waiting become a time when our faith grows.
QUESTION
When have you ever been blessed by having to wait?
PRAYERS
Lord, give us patience and strength when we have to wait. May we use the times of waiting to strengthen our relationship with you. Amen
Go before us, Lord, in all our doings, with your most gracious favour,
and further us with your continual help;
that in all our works begun, continued and ended in you,
we may glorify your holy name,
and finally by your mercy attain everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Heavenly Father,
in whom we live and move and have our being:
We humbly pray that your Holy Spirit may so guide and govern us
that in all the cares and occupations of our daily life,
we may never forget your presence
but may remember that we are always walking in your sight,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.