Psalms

Praying for Our Children

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Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 
Psalm 90:16 ESV

When our children were young, we had big plans for their lives. We sacrificed, saved, and struggled so that they would have better opportunities than we had. But the day came with each of them, when they moved out on their own and began doing things on their own, sometimes in directions we had never thought of. Though it wasn’t easy, the reality was that we had to learn to let go of our control. We needed to trust that just as God had lovingly directed and corrected us over the years, that they would also have to fall down here and there in order to experience God’s power in helping them back up again. That is something of the situation in which Moses writes Psalm 90. The children of Israel were somewhere in the desert on their forty-year journey. They definitely had some huge missteps along the way. They grumbled, tried to elect a new leader to take them back to Egypt and even built a golden calf. Yet, after some grave consequences, along with Moses pleading for God’s mercy, they eventually made it. It amazes me that Moses didn’t plead for himself to be allowed to go into the promised land, instead, he prayed that God would show His power to the next generation. With all the focus that is put on discovering our gifts and fulfilling our purpose, sometimes we forget that God also has a purpose for the next generation. Sometimes the most important job we have is to pray for God to help our children experience His power for themselves. We may not have the opportunity to cross every river ourselves, but we can ask for God’s grace and power for those who will. God gives each of us a small but special part in His enormous plan. First we need to be faithful to do all the work that God has given us, and then we need to pray for the ones coming after us to discover His will for themselves. Our job is to pass along our faith, not our plans. In our case, though our kids haven’t done a lot of things we planned on, what God has given them to do is better than anything we ever imagined. If we will be willing to pray, for them to see God’s power for themselves, then one day, we will meet on the other side of the river and rejoice together because of both God’s amazing plan and HIs amazing grace

God’s Gift of Song – Part 1

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One thing that makes me sad is how in church, we often come to the lyrics of the greatest song book in the world and all we do is read it together in unison with a monotone voice. Yes, God’s word is perfect but forgive me when I say that maybe even God gets bored with the way we use it. We seem to have forgotten that this was not the way it was intended to be presented. Instead, why not think of the Psalms as songs whose melody has fallen asleep, and listen to every new melody as if it were a Psalm knocking on our door and asking for words to sing it? While singing scripture, may seem to be somewhat whimsical or arbitrary, if you try it you will soon find some wonderful benefits just waiting to be discovered. But why would God want to communicate with us this way? Maybe the answer is the same as the reason why young people pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to listen to their favorite pop star. Back when we were teenagers, the preferred medium for us was the local AM radio station. Our favorite songs would make us laugh, cry, or feel romantic (Oh! They’re playing our song!)

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The Psalms are no different. For just a few examples of happy or sad, how about

“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy;.” Psalm 126:2

And what can be sadder than:

“I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.” 
Psalm 6:6.

God knows that when we laugh, cry, get discouraged or even complain to Him, that we connect with Him and with His word on a whole different level.  Secondly, singing scripture helps us remember the words. If we could go back in time a few centuries, we would discover that the printed word as we know it didn’t exist. The only copies of the scriptures were handwritten. Every copy in today’s dollars, would cost the equivalent of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. So, God found a way for His people to remember His words without books. I think of it a little like when we listened to the radio and the DJ announced a new song, someone would inevitably shout, “Hey be quiet man! You got to hear this one!” Then we would crank up the volume and sing along, while someone kept beat on the glove compartment or steering wheel. By the end of the week most of us knew every word, though much to our teacher’s chagrin, we couldn’t recall the date of the battle of Bull Run or the names of past presidents! God wants us to engage with His word in the same way. First, He calls us to engage with our hearts, then with our lips, and also with the people around us. Back in the Old Testament days, songs were written to be sung by everyone. Think of how when Moses finished bringing the people through the Red Sea, the first thing he did was to sing. But he wasn’t alone. No! As soon as he started up his sister Miriam lead all the women out onto the beach where they played tambourines, danced, and sang along. Now that was some kind of celebration! (Keep your radios tuned tomorrow for part 2) Here are a couple of scripture songs, one in English and the other Hebrew, just to give you some ideas.

Can You Be Specific?

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O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
    so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
Psalm 10:17-18 ESV

When we are in trouble, we often busy ourselves in an attempt to find a solution or waste valuable time complaining to others. But while we are rushing around trying to fix things on our own, we forget to simply put our trust in God and ask for His help. Talking about prayer without actually doing it, when we are in a crisis, is like talking about a life jacket, without putting it on after we have fallen overboard! I love that today’s verse, comes at the end of a prayer which King David began in verse one in which he starts by saying. “Why are you so far away?” and “Why are you hiding Yourself?” When we are in trouble, David’s prayer is a great model for us to follow. Notice, he doesn’t start out by mouthing some lifeless, holy sounding words. He tells God exactly how he feels! If you read through the Psalms, you will discover that, not all of them are, “The Lord is my Shepherd” kind of prayers. In fact, complaining to God is actually one of David’s favorite things and God included those prayers of lament because He wanted us to know, that He is listening and that He hears us when we cry out to Him.

First, David begins by being specific in his complaints. As we move on through the next several verses, we find that he doesn’t waste time by just saying, “Everybody hates me, I guess I just go eat worms.” No! David itemizes the things about which he is ticked off and honestly tells God about them. “The wicked is pursuing the poor…the wicked is boasting of his desires…His mouth is filled with cursing…He says in his heart, ‘God has forgotten.” When David does get to the end of his laundry list of issues in verse fourteen, he takes a deep breath and moves on to requests.

Then, David doesn’t pray like we sometimes do – “Bless all the missionaries or bring revival to our nation.” Those are great sounding prayers, but “Rescue the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram or heal my grandchild who is suffering with kidney disease”, are the kind of specific requests, that David prays believing God for specific answers. “Break the arm of the wicked… call his wickedness to account… hear the desire of the afflicted… strengthen their heart.” If you are like me, you may find that writing your requests down will help you to stay on track. Every few weeks when I update my list, I am amazed at how many prayers that God has answered. That brings us to the kind of prayer in today’s verse: specific praise.

Finally, just as we need to be specific when we complain and when we ask for help, God loves it when we are specific when we praise Him. “God is good all the time.” is kind of okay, but “God You were so good when you healed my wife! It was amazing when you brought our mission team home safely from Africa!” and ” Thank you that my granddaughter is getting baptized this week!” are ways of bringing us right into the throne room of God. God does hear, when we cry, but He is interested most in building a true personal relationship with us. A strong relationship with God is forged when we really talk to him as we would to a friend. We tell Him exactly how we are feeling, what are needs are (daily bread), every sin we are sorry for, every commitment we are ready to make, and then give Him praise because we know that He is listening and we trust that He is in control!