Psalm 146

¹ Praise the Lord!

Let all that I am praise the Lord.
²     I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
    I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.

³ Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
    there is no help for you there.
⁴ When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
    and all their plans die with them.
⁵ But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God.
⁶ He made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them.
    He keeps every promise forever.
⁷ He gives justice to the oppressed
    and food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
⁸     The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
    The Lord loves the godly.
⁹ The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
    He cares for the orphans and widows,
    but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever.
    He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations.

Praise the Lord!

Dear God, what a great, worshipful psalm. You know that there are some psalms I just have a hard time embracing because some of them are just hard to read (punish my enemies and all that). But this one is just worshipping you. Talking about how great you are. Talking about your love, mercy, justice, and might. The fact that you are so mighty and still want justice, love and mercy for me and my life blows me away. Who am I, we are we as humans, that we should warrant so much attention from the God of the universe? Yet there you are. You are there to hear the cries of my heart. You are there to comfort me, to love me, to grow me, to use my life for your purposes. You are always there. You are here right now, as I sit down this afternoon to spend time with you. You are here.

I don’t pray intercessory prayers enough on behalf of others. I hope that’s okay. It just doesn’t seem to be a gift I have, although my wife has it. We were talking yesterday about how we pray for different issues in our lives. How we pray for our family and friends. Do we really call on your power enough? Do we really expect great things from you? Do we recognize some of the spiritual warfare we are facing and take it seriously enough? I don’t know about for her, but the answer for me is, no, I do not.

Father, I do come to you right now, praying for your power of light, truth, and mercy to be shed on the people who are currently on my heart. Love them strongly. Pierce their darkness. Pierce my darkness. Do something that will bring secrets to the light so that their power might be lost. Do it so that what they are holding as secrets might be broken and the power of the secrets dissipated. Help them to then use this healing for helping others. Do all of this for your glory and purposes, for their good, and for the good of others. Regardless of what it costs me. Use if for your will and for their good.

I pray all of this in the name of the One, Triune God,

Amen