Bold, direct prayers to God
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 80; PM Psalm 77, [79]; Esther 4:4-17; Acts 18:1-11; Luke (1:1-4), 3:1-14
I have taken to offering direct prayers to God. For example, my daughter’s close friend on the cross country running team has pain in her hip and is going to physical therapy weekly for treatment. At last week’s 5K race, I prayed that her run would be pain-free. When chatting with her dad on the north Alabama course and told him my prayer, he said, “Well…that’s a bold prayer.” Yep!
This morning’s psalm backs up the practice of bold, direct prayers to God. The psalmist asks the Lord God for help. Note the action verbs voiced in prayer to the “Shepherd of Israel”: hear, shine, stir up, come, restore, show, save. These words call out to awaken a distant or disengaged God to cajole a glance from the heavens, as the people need YHWH to get involved in the lives of humanity. They thirst for holy strength and steadiness, as well as for restoration and direction. With the glow of God’s face, salvation is possible.
The psalmist – surely reflecting the collective desire of the Israelites in exile – repeats three times: “Restore us, O God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.” The Hebrew people want to go back to their homeland in Israel. They want to be invited, like Moses was, to draw near to God and experience the divine presence. They pray for salvation – not just a spiritual protection in the hereafter, but a timely, somatic deliverance from hunger, slavery, disease, and oppression.
The Jews in this psalm are deeply afflicted. They feel that God is angry with them. There is much weeping. Neighbors jeer at them. And yet, these faithful people cling to their roots as the psalmist poetically retells the story of Israel in the Holy Land, with cedar trees, mountains, and limits touching the sea and the river. Through war, “beasts” broke down that greatness with brute strength and fires. The Israelites call out for God to preserve their land, rebuke enemies, and return life to the Hebrew people. “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.”
Maybe you are wondering how God can let a hard thing happen in your life, or in the world around you. Perhaps in the past you’ve known a space of sadness that felt unbearable, with each moment sucking more life away. It is not easy to reconcile the pain in your life and mine, and I do not know that there is a good – or satisfying – answer to the whys we implore God.
Here’s what I do know: I have felt the comfort of the Holy Spirit and the wholeness that comes when prayers surround me. I believe that the Lord God shines the light of divine countenance upon us and will never leave us. Indeed, we shall be saved. May Psalm 80 equip you today in your bold, direct prayers to God: “Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven; behold and tend this vine; preserve what your right has planted.” (v. 14)
With God’s help,
Katherine+
Connections in Your Life
Reflect on Psalm 80’s demonstration of bold, direct prayer to God. Practice what that can look like in your own prayer life. Ask someone how you can specifically pray for them, too. What feels meaningful in this exercise? What feels challenging? Journal about what you notice. And keep praying!