Psalm 79: Give God a Reason

Today’s reading is Psalm 79.

Prayer is a blessing for many reasons. No doubt, prayer is a blessing because we get to open our hearts to God. We get to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us. We get to express our fears, doubts, concerns, troubles, struggles. We get to lay out our needs, wants, preferences, desires. God’s shoulders are big enough to take it all. However, all of this blessing in prayer sometimes prompts us to miss the real point and purpose of prayer.

That purpose is demonstrated in the first portion of the model Jesus taught:

Our Father in the heavens,
your name be hallowed,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
as in heaven, so on earth.

Matthew 6:9-10 (American Literary Version)

The purpose of prayer is not to get God to do our will, but to get us to do God’s will. Certainly, our prayers impact God. However, the main purpose of prayer is to impact us. Prayer is intended to grow us.

With that in mind, see one of the greatest bits of prayer advice illustrated in this week’s psalm. It connects to what we learned yesterday: “It’s not about us.” In Psalm 79:9, the psalmist prayed:

Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake! (ESV)

Not, “Help us so we can have convenience.” Not, “Deliver us for the sake of our comfort.” No. “Help us because helping us will bring glory to Your name.” “Deliver and atone for us for the sake of Your name.” We see this reference to God’s name, the one that must be hallowed according to Jesus’s model, throughout the psalms. We’ve noted this doesn’t simply refer to the theonym, the proper name of God. It refers to His self-declaration in Exodus 34:6-7 about His mercy, grace, loyal love, faithfulness, patience, forgiveness, justice.

The psalmist had developed a maturity in prayer and a maturity through prayer. The key was not simply asking, “What do I care about?” But asking, “What does God care about?” Yes, we do get to cast our cares on the Lord because He cares for us. But the goal of prayer is not to get God to care about what we care about, but to get us to care about what God cares about. The best way to accomplish this is to give God a reason to respond to our requests. Dig into His Word and His self-revelation. Learn His character, His concerns, His promises, His purposes, His goals, His glory. Then align your cares with His and consider a reason anchored in God for Him to respond to your request. When you pray, give God that reason to respond.

You want a promotion on the job. Obviously God cares about you. But exactly why are you asking Him to give you a promotion? What reason would He have to do so? How would giving you a promotion on the job bring glory to Him, further His plans, correspond with His character? I admit, walking through this takes more time. It’s harder. But who ever said growth is easy? But growth is rewarding. I promise you, taking this step in prayer will grow you and the spiritual blessings and benefits from this approach to prayer are amazing. You’ll be glad you took this next step in prayer maturity. You’ll be glad to become more like Jesus.

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 79.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 79 admonish you?

Godly Wisdom

Today’s reading is James 3.

At the beginning of James’s letter, he encouraged us to ask God for wisdom. If we ask in faith, with no doubting, God will give us wisdom. Of course, He gives us wisdom by letting us endure trials to produce steadfastness. Steadfastness will have its perfect work, growing us to maturity and completeness.

As we grow in wisdom, notice what will grow in our lives: purity, peaceability, gentleness (meekness), reasonability, mercy, good fruits, impartiality, sincerity. These are the exact opposite of all the power struggles we discussed with the earthly, unspiritual, demonic wisdom of jealousy and selfish ambition.

James says, “A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Jesus said peacemakers are blessed because they shall be called sons of God. Peacemakers are following in the footsteps of Jesus. This statement about harvest and sowing can be seen in two ways. First, if we sow peaceful wisdom in our own lives, we will bear the fruit of righteousness. Second, in the context of the chapter, talking about teachers, those who teach from God’s wisdom sow in peace and harvest others who pursue righteousness.

May we sow God’s word and will in the meekness of wisdom in the lives of others. That doesn’t mean all others will respond properly. They have their own choices to make. However, the only way to a harvest of righteousness is to sow in the peace and meekness of wisdom.

Next week’s reading is James 4.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
2. Notice that wisdom is demonstrated in James 3 the same way faith is in James 2. How is that?
3. What do the characteristics of God’s wisdom mean? What will our lives look like if we live by them?
4. Why is it hard to pursue the meekness of wisdom when the world is telling us to pursue the strength of power and revolt? What advice would you give to pursue meekness and peace?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?

A Reason to Pray

Today’s reading is Psalm 25.

Today, I want to share with you the second most important lesson I’ve ever learned about prayer. The most important lesson is that prayer, whatever aspect of prayer I’m practicing, is always about God’s glory and not mine. We find that all over the psalms. But the second most important lesson is demonstrated in this psalm. Many commentators talk about how hard it is to get a hold of this psalm. Is it a lament? Is it a meditation? Is it a prayer? Is it a praise? They struggle with the outline and wonder at the mixture of prayer and meditation. But the reality is this psalmist is not only teaching prayer, but teaching one of the number one keys to effective praying. This psalm goes back and forth between prayer to God and meditation on God because the psalmist is praying and then meditating on the reason for the prayer. This is part of prayer that I skipped for a very long time. When we plan our praying and embark on a prayer, we should consider, what about God would remotely make Him willing to respond to what I’m praying right now? What about God’s character, nature, word, will, promises leads me to believe God will remotely want to respond to what I’m laying out before Him? The psalmist anticipates a problem with his trek up God’s holy hill. I’m a sinner. He knows the only way to deal with that is if God forgives him. But why would God do that? Why should the psalmist remotely expect God to respond to the request to “Remember not the sins of my youth”? Why should the psalmist remotely expect God to forgive his sins and then protect him from his enemies? Because of Exodus 34:6-7. Because God had revealed to Moses and to Israel His very nature. His character. His name. His name is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving transgression, iniquity, and sin. And so the psalmist has a reason to pray this prayer. “Don’t remember my sins, Lord. Remember Your name.” And therefore, the psalmist asks the Lord to act for His name’s sake and pardon his guilt. That was the psalmist’s reason for this prayer. When you bow, what is the reason God should or would respond to the request you are making? Think it through. Tie it to the Biblical reason, and then offer it up to God. You’ll be amazed at what this practice will do to improve your praying.

Today’s reading is Psalm 26.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes and listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post!

On Purpose

Today’s reading is Titus 1.

One of my biggest hindrances to disciple making is facing every day as if the goal is just making it through the day. One of Paul’s greatest strengths in disciple making was already knowing what his goal was before he faced each day. He knew his purpose. He knew what he was about. Jesus made him an apostle for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth in hope of eternal life. His question was never, “What should today be about?” It was never, “What should I accomplish today?” His question was simply, “What is the best thing I can do today to engender faith in God’s elect, providing them with knowledge of the truth, so they can have God’s promise of eternal life?” How are you facing today? Are you trying to figure out what it is about? Or are you staying on purpose?

Tomorrow’s reading is Titus 2.