The Everyday Prayer

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 91 (day one)
“If you make the Most High your dwelling. . .no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.”  (vs 9-10)  David talks to himself.  It is one of the secrets of his spiritual life.  In vs 2 of Psalm 91, he says what he is GOING TO SAY to God.  By vs 3, he begins to assure himself  with the implications of such a commitment.  “Surely he will save you”  (vs 3)  “A thousand may fall at your side. . .but it will not come near you.”  (vs 7)  It is important to remember these are not promises from God to David.  They are words of confidence from David to David.  Nothing wrong with self-talk so long as we remember what God actually promises.  See vs 14-16.  God’s words (you will notice) are less about protection FROM danger.  More about the presence of God with us IN danger.  Self-talk is one thing.  God’s word is something else.

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 69 (day seven)
“Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head.”  (vs 4)  Are Christians paranoid?  Do we imagine the hostility of the world?  Make it worse than it really is?  Are we just “whiners” believing media and government to be biased against us?  Not always.  No.  The long testimony of history is that “this world is no friend to grace.”  The very life of the church and the testimony of the Spirit is convicting to the natural man.  (see John 16:8)  In mild ostracism and overt persecution, the man who lives apart from God reacts to the person who walks with Him.  Something dark is at work here.  On His last night,  Jesus said,  “You know that (the world) hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you, but . . .I chose you out of the world.”  (John 15:18-19)  Make us courageous and kind, Lord.  The opposition is real.

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 69 (day six)
“I am worn out calling for help.  My throat is parched.  My eyes fail, looking  for God.”  (vs 3)  David is in trouble.  Surrounded by enemies.  Falsely accused.  What does he do?  He prays and waits.  Why?  It isn’t because prayer brings him quick relief.  David reports crying out until his throat hurts.  What keeps him on his knees?  The book of Jeremiah speaks of people who “walked after emptiness and became empty”  (Jeremiah 2:5)  The disciples put the same truth in different words.  “Lord, where could we go?  You alone have words of eternal life.”  The reason that Christians wait on the Lord is that we have no other choice!  If God is patient we must learn the same virture.  To leave Him because waiting is hard is foolish.  God is good, but He is also slow (from our near-sighted perspective).  Faith means we pray, even when we have to wait for Him to answer.

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 69 (day four)
Psalm 69 is one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament.  In most instances, it is related to Christ and His relationship with unbelievers.  It foreshadows Christ…it is messianic.  David suffered persecution and hatred and it painted a picture of what Christ would endure at the hands of the world.  All believers can gain encouragement from this psalm when they face persecution for their faith.  David experienced these events before Christ and looked forward toward Christ.  Likewise, we often experience suffering, persecution, and hatred because of our faith in Christ.  Ours is after Christ.  Did we think we might escape all of this?  Did we think that we would only experience circumstantial happiness and encouragement from the world?  The word used in the New Testament is not ‘if’, but ‘when’.  2 Corinthians 6 says we are to give no cause for offense in anything, so that the gospel will not be discredited.  How are we doing as servants of God?

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 69 (day three)
“I am forced to restore what I did not steal. You, God, know my folly…”  One’s own heart appears blameless at first: “Many are my enemies without cause.”  But in the give and take of honest conversation with God, the heart comes into clearer focus: “My guilt is not hidden from you.”  That confession does not excuse malicious behavior from those who position themselves as enemies.  It does, however, restore the soul’s ability to rest in God’s safekeeping during times of hostility.  A cry for God’s help can become a review of your own life before the Lord.  If you’ve ever wondered, “How did it come to this?”  then let these ancient words teach you how to live from this moment on in a world in which everyone—even you—needs God’s forgiveness and wisdom and promise.

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 69 (day two)
Conflict. Most of us are experts at avoiding it. Some of us are experts at winning in it. All of us face it. We are treated unjustly (69:4). We are insulted (69:7). We are overwhelmed and cry out for escape (69:1). Is there hope? Jesus says, “Yes!” “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you” (John 15:19). When we clash with those outside the community of faith because of our faith, we have an opportunity be a living example of Jesus. But what about our conflicts with those within the community of faith? The Apostle Paul applies the same logic. When I clash with a church member, receive angry emails and even endure thoughtless comments, I have an opportunity to give my brother a living example of Jesus. “Each one of us must please his neighbor for his good, in order to build him up. For even the Messiah did not please himself…” (Romans 15:2-3). Conflict may be unavoidable, but it is never unredeemable when Jesus followers follow His example.

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 69 (day one)
“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. . .Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs on my head. . .But I pray to you, O Lord, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.”  (vs 1, 4, 13)  Do I pray?  When circumstances overwhelm me, do I immediately cry out to God?  When people are unfair or unkind or unconcerned about me, do I turn to God and find strength in Him?  David is teaching us to do so.  Do not grumble.  Do not withdraw in wounded pessimism.  Pray!  It is a clear sign of real faith.  Do not panic.  Do not deflate.  Ask and expect God’s help!  Abraham Lincoln once said that in the darkest days of the Civil War he prayed because, “frankly, I had no where else to turn.”  When life gangs up on me, do I pray?  Do you?

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 53 (day 7)
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’  They are corrupt, and their ways are vile.”  (vs 1)  They are fools.  People (ancient and modern)  who say that there is no God.  People who deny conscience and the testimony of nature.  Foolish because this denial of God’s existence unconsciously, dramatically and negatively impacts moral choice.  Ultimately, a belief in God and in His righteous judgement is the only guarantee and the strongest motivation for good behavior.  Without the standard of God’s holiness, men and societies disintegrate morally.  Witness our present age.  And the payback is fear.  “There they were, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread.”  (vs 5)  Part of faith’s payment is peace.  Peace that passes understanding.  Peace that makes us confident in every circumstance. Wisdom or folly?  It happens as we make decisions about God and what we say with our mouths counts less than what we say in our hearts.

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 53 (day seven)
“Will the evildoers never learn–those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on God?”  (vs 4)  Do you love God’s people?  It is one of the deep questions of life.  While it may not be clear to us why God chooses people and puts his favor on them, one thing is certain.  At the end of time one of the standards by which we will be judged is the treatment (or mistreatment) of the people that God calls His own.  “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse.”  (Genesis 12:3)  “Depart from Me, accursed ones. . .to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did not do it to Me.”  (Matthew 25:41, 45)  It is a warning for evildoers.  It is a question for us all.  Do we love God’s people?

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 53 (day six)
“THEY are corrupt. . .you put THEM to shame.”  (vs 1, 5)  It is an easy mistake to make.  To see clearly the sinfulness in others while missing it (or dismissing it) in ourselves.  Giving ourselves the “benefit of the doubt.”  Applying a harsh standard to others.  In Psalm 53 David describes accurately the sins of the world.  What he lacks (at least in this song) is an honest accounting of the sins of Israel.  Paul will not make the same mistake.  When he quotes David in Romans 3:1, 10, 23, his point is that we are ALL sinners.  Including himself!  (See Romans 7 “What I want to do, I don’t do.  In fact, I practise the very evil that I hate.”)  Jesus taught us to be as careful and critical of our own sin as that which we see in others.  “First take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”  (Matthew 7:5)