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Category Archives: Psalms

Psalm 103:1-5

27 Dec

Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
Psalm 103:1-5

Dear God, it’s a couple of days after Christmas, and I feel the need to just worship. It’s not like I didn’t worship you over the last week or two as Christmas got nearer, but I didn’t worship you much yesterday. I thought about you. I prayed. I wrote an encouraging letter to a new Christian. But this morning, I walked into a room where my wife had some music playing, and it was just worship music. It hit me in such a refreshing way. Ahhh. Worship!

Then I looked to see what the verse of the day was for Bible Gateway, and this was it. Perfect! Yes. This is what is on my heart right now. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. And all that is within me bless His Holy Name! That is what is in my heart right now. You are my God and I want to worship you. I need to worship you. My soul longs to worship you. And worship you beyond the Christmas story. While the Christmas story is pivotal, it’s only a small piece of what Jesus did. It’s you becoming man for me. But it’s what you did while you were man that is really amazing.

It makes me think of a couple of songs. One is “Bless His Holy Name” by the Gaithers and the other is “Indescribable” by Chris Tomlin. You are amazing, God!

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I have an unstructured day in front of me and you know I don’t usually do well with little structure. Help me to use this day for you and your glory. Help me to use it to have you nurture my soul. Let this be a day when you will use me to help your kingdom to come and your will to be done on this earth as it is in your heaven. Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. Forgive me of my sins as I forgive those who sin against me. And please give me this day my daily bread. Make me worthy of being your ambassador.

I offer this prayer to you through the grace offered to me through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 27, 2023 in Psalms

 

Psalm 131

06 Nov

Psalm 131

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of David.

1 Lord, my heart is not proud;
    my eyes are not haughty.
I don’t concern myself with matters too great
    or too awesome for me to grasp.
2 Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself,
    like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk.
    Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—
    now and always.

Dear God, I love the sentiment of this psalm. “I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself.” As I sit here on this Monday morning, using the extra time I was given this weekend to pray to you before work, I think about calming and quieting myself before you. About letting go of all of the things I think I need to solve and simply embracing this moment.

There are all kinds of things that disquiet my heart. Things I don’t totally understand. Broken relationships is a big one. There are relationships in my life that are broken, and I don’t understand them. Perhaps they are too great for me to grasp. So instead I will calm and quiet myself before you. There is a lot of work to do at my job. There are a lot of needs that must be met. But the doing of all of it at once is far beyond me. No, I need to quiet myself and be here in this moment and each moment throughout the day. There are things happening in the broader world–from wars in Ukraine and Israel to political fights on national, state, and local levels–that are much too awesome for me to grasp.

As I think about David writing this psalm for himself and for pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, I think about what must have been on their minds. Wars with the Philistines. Sicknesses that they didn’t know how to heal. But the act of worship was to let it all go and just be with you. To sit in your lap and rest.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, help me to carry this spirit into my day today. Holy Spirit, thank you for being with me, including when I was driving home Saturday night. I know it was you who nudged me. I am grateful. So please…I know you are with me all day. Help me to hear you, see you, and worship you. Help me to experience your peace in the midst of the sorrow that constantly follows my heart. And be with me as I interact with each person. Give me your wisdom, love, and discernment.

I pray all of this through the name of Jesus,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 6, 2023 in Psalms

 

“Hypocrite”

21 Jun

Note on April 22, 2024: I originally wrote this prayer in the summer of 2023. This evening, I was listening to the Bible Project Podcast, and in the midst of their series on the Sermon on the Mount, they had a whole episode dedicated to the Word “hypocrite.” They redefined it for me, and I found that I have apparently either been misinformed or misunderstood the definition of the word the translators used to convey Jesus’s message. Apparently, a more accurate definition would be someone who is doing the things they say they (and you) should do, but they are only doing them for show. So it’s not what I thought, which is the old “do as I say, not as I do” definition, but it’s actually something that only God can tell if we are doing it or not. Only God can see our hearts and motives as we do what we do and say what we say. So this is another example of how my interpretation of scripture can be influenced by misunderstandings and my own lack of education. With that said, her is the prayer I prayed with the wrong definition in mind.

Dear God, I noticed that the New Testament reading for today for the Catholic church had the word “hypocrite” a couple of times. Both times, it was Jesus talking. I decided to take the New Living Translation and find out how many times the word is used in the Bible. As it turns out, it came up 21 times. Three times in the Old Testament (one in Psalms and two in Isaiah) and then 18 in the New Testament (13 in Matthew, one in Mark, two in Luke, one in Acts and one in 1 Timothy). So Matthew really seems to have zeroed in on this word and Jesus’s use of it. Therefore, I thought I would look at the instances when Matthew quotes Jesus as using it, courtesy of Bible Gateway.

  1. Matthew 6:2 When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  2. Matthew 6:5 Teaching about Prayer and Fasting“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  3. Matthew 6:16 “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  4. Matthew 7:5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  5. Matthew 15:7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  6. Matthew 22:18 But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” he said. “Why are you trying to trap me? In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  7. Matthew 23:13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  8. Matthew 23:15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are! In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  9. Matthew 23:23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  10. Matthew 23:25 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  11. Matthew 23:27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  12. Matthew 23:29 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  13. Matthew 24:51 and he will cut the servant to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Jesus seemed to have very little tolerance for hypocrites. Perhaps this is something I should be careful about as I move through this life. Are there areas where I am hypocritical?

I guess hypocrisy is something that requires self-awareness because I know of very few people who are able to see their own hypocrisy in real time. Even now, as I try to search my heart, I try to think of areas where I might be hypocritical, but I can’t think of any. Am I a hypocrite? Almost certainly. Can I identify how? Apparently not.

I think hypocrisy starts with a spirit of judging others. Maybe that’s where I should start. Do I judge others and how do I judge others? If I am judging them for this thing or that, then the odds are probably good that I have some work to do on myself in that area–oh, and I need to stop the judging.

Father, there are six instances in Matthew 23 that includes the phrases “What sorry awaits you…” and “Hypocrites!” I recognize that this is partially Jesus getting the Pharisees riled up so they will crucify him. It’s also getting his last words in with them while he can. But the message is still true. If it is true with me, please reveal it to me. Holy Spirit, please reveal it to me. Jesus, please forgive me.

I pray all of this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 21, 2023 in 1 Timothy, Acts, Isaiah, Luke, Mark, Matthew, Psalms

 

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Psalm 146

09 Jun

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

 
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Posted by on June 9, 2023 in Psalms

 

Psalm 136:1

29 Nov

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1

Dear God, this is another moment for just some worship. This psalm is 26 verses and each one of them includes the line, “His faithful love endures forever.” That’s what I want to do right now. I just want to worship you. I do have some friends for whom I’m concerned. Some family. Some clients at our nonprofit. Some coworkers. I want your best for each of them. I want your powerful hand to move, heal, protect, grow, and guide. I want all of that. Please help all of that happen.

But now I just want to sit in your lap and be with you. I want to worship you. I have a dog who is incredibly needy. She came up to me this morning and wanted some loving. I’m never able to sit with this dog without having to pet her or she will go away. She never just wants to sit with me. It’s a very transactional relationship. But I tried something this morning. I put her in my lap when I started this and now she seems to be happy to just lie down while I type. She is content just to be in my lap. Not getting anything for herself except to know that she is a loved dog.

That’s what I want right now. I just want to sit in your lap and not ask for anything. I just want you to know that I am content just being your child. I know you love all of the people on my heart. I know you have them in your hands. So I can let all of that go for the moment and just be happy in your presence. Why? Because your faithful love endures forever.

I pray all of this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 29, 2022 in Psalms

 

Psalm 27:4-6 (a psalm of David)

13 Nov

Psalm 27:4-6

A psalm of David.

4 The one thing I ask of the Lord—
    the thing I seek most—
is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
    delighting in the Lord’s perfections
    and meditating in his Temple.
5 For he will conceal me there when troubles come;
    he will hide me in his sanctuary.
    He will place me out of reach on a high rock.
6 Then I will hold my head high
    above my enemies who surround me.
At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy,
    singing and praising the Lord with music.

Dear God, I got this praise song I remember from my church in Waco 20 years ago in my head this morning. I couldn’t find it on my iPod, which disappointed me, but I thought I might just go to the source material. Here is the chorus of the song I remember:

This one thing have I desired / that which I seek, that I might dwell in the presence of God / And that we may behold the beauty of the Lord / That we might seek him in His house.

I just want to be with you this morning. I want to worship you. I can’t sit with my wife in church this morning because she will be in the choir in the balcony, so I am going to visit a different church that I prefer. While I’m there, I just want to completely submit myself to you. Oh, how I get tempted to think too much of myself. To buy my own “press.” But I am flawed. I am a speck of dust. I am a vapor. My job is to simply love you with all my heart, mind, and strength and love my neighbor as myself. Let this be a day of that kind of worship.

I pray this through Jesus life, death, and resurrection,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 13, 2022 in Psalms

 

Lectionary Readings for October 23, 2022

23 Oct

Dear God, I was attending the Catholic church this morning and some of the verses really struck me. As a Protestant, I have not been exposed to the Apocrypha much, but I’m really coming to appreciate it’s role in the Christian faith.

Old Testament Reading

I mention that because the Old Testament reading this morning was from Sirach 35. Verses 14-16 caught my ear this morning:

14 Do not offer him a bribe, for he will not accept it;
15     and do not rely on a dishonest sacrifice;
for the Lord is the judge,
    and with him there is no partiality.
16 He will not show partiality to the poor;
    but he will listen to the prayer of one who is wronged.

I’m not sure which translation the church uses in its missal, but the way the missal translated the part about the poor was, “The LORD is God of justice, who knows no favorites. Though not unduly partial toward the weak, yet he hears the cry of the oppressed.” I like that you love the poor and you will listen to the prayer of the weak, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you will show partiality. There is fairness. There is justice. Just because I happen to be poor does not give me license to steal or abuse others. At the same time, you are there to love and comfort them. You are there to help provide through your own means and through your church. Help us to know what that means and looks like.

Psalm

Ironically, the Psalm was parts of Psalm 34. The repeated refrain was “The LORD hears the cry of the poor.” The last verses used in the psalm say, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. The LORD redeems the lives of his servants; no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.” I know some people whose spirits have been crushed. You know who is on my heart right now. Hear their cry. Hear my cry for them. Holy Spirit, give them comfort. Show those of us who know them how to love them. Let your light shine on them through us. And help us to be their defenders on your behalf.

New Testament Reading

The reading is from Paul’s second letter to Timothy. I don’t know why they selectively chose just verse 6-8 and 16-18, but the words in 16-18 struck me:

16 At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

There are some people I know right now who are worthy of defending. I’ve prayed a lot about them over the last few days. Raise up defenders in your church for them. Love them. Encourage them. Use their persecution to draw them closer to yourself. Use it to draw all of us closer to you.

Gospel Reading

Finally, there is the one I was wanting to get to. In Luke 18:9-14, Luke prefaced Jesus’s parable about the two men who went to the temple to pray by saying, “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” Man, do those words ring true right now in our current society. People are claiming the high ground and righteousness in your name and using that as justification to abuse others, discount others, and, frankly, bully others.

Holy Spirit, show me the areas in my life where I am that arrogant person who needs to repent and not despise. Help me to be part of offering your comfort to the oppressed. Help me to be part of your solution in working with the disenfranchised and suffering. I have prayed a lot this morning for particular people. Hear my prayer, Oh, God!

I pray this through Jesus my Lord,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 23, 2022 in 2 Timothy, Luke, Psalms, Sirach

 

“How Long, O Lord?” (Hymn)

02 Oct
From Glory & Praise hymnal, third edition

Dear God, there are times when this hymn is appropriate and there are times when it isn’t. For an oppressed people like those right now in Ukraine, it’s a perfect song. For an American church that likes to feel sorry for itself and feel like it is being persecuted, it’s the wrong song. For some, it is about desperation and devotion to you. For some, it needs to be about repenting and submitting to you.

Both of these Psalms, 13 and 22, are from David. I don’t know what he was experiencing at the moment he wrote them, but there were plenty of times when I’m sure he felt there were enemies all around him, including Saul trying to kill him. What he couldn’t see at the time was you guiding him on the path to being king. Not that all who suffer are on the path to being king, but, at the very least, the persecution can lead us to being on our knees and praying to you like this. It’s doubtful David would ever have prayed like this if he had never felt pain.

Holy Spirit, please be with me today. I am supposed to be giving an invocation for a city council meeting. Please give me wisdom in what to pray. Please join me in my prayer for the people in that room this morning and all of those they represent. Please speak into my ear and counsel me today. Guide me. Love through me. I have an important role to play this evening. Guide me in that as well. May everything you do be done to bring you glory and bring our community into communion and fellowship with the Father. Father, you know my other needs and concerns. You know those I love and how they are on my heart. My friends and coworkers as well. Holy Spirit, please heal. Heal bodies, souls, hearts, and minds. Heal relationships. Do it all for your glory and our best in your eyes.

I pray this through the right afforded to me through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, my Lord,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 2, 2022 in Hymns and Songs, Psalms

 

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Psalm 94:17-19

23 Aug

Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

Psalm 94:17-19

Dear God, when doubts fill my mind, your comfort gives me renewed hope and cheer. Thank you.

I suppose each of us haas a different threshold for what we perceive as suffering. For someone who has had not experienced very little suffering at the hands of others or through life circumstances, I think I still have a pretty high threshold. For example, I have a friend whose son is a movie director and he just made a documentary about a worship leader who flew in the face of the government during the first few months of Covid and insisted that the church could not be “persecuted” by being told we temporarily could not meet corporately for worship. The friend directly asked me to attend a special screening of the movie and I was trying to passively get out of it, but after he pressed on I had to be more frank and tell him that I don’t like the viewpoint that the government was persecuting the church in that moment. They were applying a standard across the board to everyone. It was awkward, but I just don’t see it that way.

That being said, there have certainly been times when I called on you because I felt I was falling. Employment struggles. Struggles in my marriage. Struggles with my children. Concerns for my community or for friends.

Father, Holy Spirit, thank you for being my God, my comforter, my counselor, my provider, and my hope beyond the seen world. Help me to continue to walk with you and worship you. Help me to bring your hope and comfort to others.

I pray this through the power of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 23, 2022 in Psalms

 

Psalm 119:92

29 Jul

If your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy, I would have died in my misery.
Psalm 119:92

Dear God, this was the verse before the “verse of the day” from Bible Gateway. It really spoke to me this morning. There have been times when I have been completely miserable. Some of them in the last year. Some the last 10 years. Outside of the miscarriage my wife experienced 27 years ago, my most miserable moments in life have come in the last 10 years. But you were there. I don’t know that I would say your “instructions” sustained me with joy through these times, but you certainly sustained me.

There were two years when I didn’t do these journals to you. I didn’t walk away from you during that time, but my misery put me in a different place. I remember praying to you that I wasn’t mad, but I just couldn’t get myself there. Looking back, it reminds me of the poem “Footprints in the Sand” when the author Carolyn Carty says (quoting you):

“My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”

Father, Holy Spirit, thank you for walking with me. Thank you for sustaining me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for joy in the midst of misery. Thank you for using this misery for your good, for my good, and for the good of those I love even though most of the time I cannot see what you’re doing or how it is good. Thank you for being my comforter, my counselor, and my God. Thank you for giving me something bigger than myself. Thank you that I am not the center of the universe, but I am your grateful servant, ready to give everything to you.

I pray all of this through the Son, who lived, died and was resurrected for my redemption,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 29, 2022 in Psalms

 

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