A Prayer

July 25, 2006

Joe,

I’ve arrived at a text for this Sunday night (I think!), and thought I would ask you to meditate on this one and let me know your thoughts. Of course that will make the sermon pretty boring to anyone who reads this site, but I don’t think the Koinonians have caught on to the fact that we are blogging. I wanted to post the Psalm here because I believe it is such a marvelous example of prayer in the life of a worshiper. May all of us strive to pray these kinds of prayers:

Psalm 143

“¹Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! ²Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

³For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. ⁴Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.

⁵I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. ⁶I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

⁷Answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. ⁸Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

⁹Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord! I have fled to you for refuge! ¹⁰Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

¹¹For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble! ¹²And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies, and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am your servant.”

So Joe, let me throw you a nice lob here: what does this psalm teach us about the kind of prayer that glorifies God?

Larry

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