Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
April 30, 2022
Read Psalm 143:1-10
1 Listen to my prayer, LORD! Because of your faithfulness, hear my requests for mercy! Because of your righteousness, answer me! 2 Please don’t bring your servant to judgment, because no living thing is righteous before you. 3 The enemy is chasing me, crushing my life in the dirt, forcing me to live in the dark like those who’ve been dead forever. 4 My spirit is weak inside me inside, my mind is numb. 5 I remember the days long past; I meditate on all your deeds; I contemplate your handiwork. 6 I stretch out my hands to you; my whole being is like dry dirt, thirsting for you. Selah 7 Answer me, LORD—and quickly! My breath is fading. Don’t hide your face from me or I’ll be like those going down to the pit! 8 Tell me all about your faithful love come morning time because I trust you. Show me the way I should go, because I offer my life up to you. 9 Deliver me from my enemies, LORD! I seek protection from you. 10 Teach me to do what pleases you because you are my God. Guide me by your good spirit into good land.
Good Morning, Listen to our prayers, O God!
David seems to be having some doubts as to whether God is with him and listening to him. He is in the midst of a crisis, but he takes time to recall the goodness of days past and realizes that he, David, still needs instruction in the ways of God.
I imagine that we are all guilty of being pushy when it comes to having our prayers and petitions answered. Have you ever asked someone to do something for you? Maybe this happened by a parent asking a child, or maybe by a boss asking an employee, or maybe you are the one being asked to complete the task. What are our expectations in those situations? Do you expect the one who is doing the task to do it their way or your way?
Most of us have a way and an amount of time in mind that will allow the task to be completed. When the one to whom the task is given doesn’t meet those expectations, we are disappointed or even frustrated. The phrase, “I should have just done it myself” is often muttered or thought. On the one hand, we may or may not have shared those expectations with the one we have tasked. Likewise, if we chose to hand off the task to be completed, we must trust that the job will be completed in a sufficient manner even if it is not the way that we would have done it.
Our relationship with God, our creator, and our parent, might sometimes resemble this adversarial relationship between the one who gives the task and the one to whom it is given. When we pray to God, what are our expectations? We want and even expect to see the results immediately in a way which we would have answered.
God is always listening and answering our prayers, but sometimes we forget to notice. It’s like asking someone a question, and then realizing that you didn’t listen for the answer. Then you must embarrassingly ask again.
God’s ways are not our ways as we read in Isaiah 55:8-9: 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God’s understanding of time does not equate to ours. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11
Does God answer our prayers and listen when we pray? Absolutely!
Do those answers always match our expectations? Probably not!
When we pray, include the prayer that never fails, Thy will be done!
Finally, we must trust God completely! God is taking care of us forever!
Loving and Gracious God, Thank You for loving us. God, thy will be done! Thank You. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: I trust God when I lay down my expectations and follow God’s ways.
Trust and Believe in God! Pastor Liz
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