Skip to main content

Psalm 88:3-5 Prayer in deep distress - Day 277

Good morning friends,

We are not told much about the circumstances of this psalm that would result in such deep distress.  Yet the light of faith is evident.  I hope these thoughts encourage you on your walk today.

Blessings,

Jeff

Psalms such as this force me to ponder, Why would anyone write such a song if he did not believe that God would hear his prayer and give him relief in some way?  

In preparation for upcoming sermon on 6th petition (lead us not into temptation...), I have been reading Calvin's chapter on prayer in the Institutes.  Section 13 God’s command and promise as motive for prayer.  Not only are we commanded to pray, we are given the promise that God hears and will answer.  It seems to me, that the psalmist, Heman the Ezrahite, knew this deep in his soul.  

All the world has to offer is "The seven stages of grief".  Of course, to the promise to hear and answer is only to those who believe that the God who gave the promise actually exists.  The world denies God's existence, so the seven stages are the cheap imitation for prayer.

Dear friend, if you are in the place of Heman, know that these are not just soothing words to make you feel better.  God is real, He commands us to pray even in the darkest times and He promises to answer.  He wants us to be able to pour out our hearts before Him.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2 Chronicles 33:7-9 Thoughts on Davidic covenant - Day 362

Good morning faithful readers, The finish line is in sight!!!  One of the themes of scripture is that God is a covenant keeping God.  There are many between God and man. Adam, Noah, David are examples.  Covenants are more than promises.  They are made between a superior and inferior with conditions for each side and blessing and penalties based on keeping the conditions.  These are covenants of works which fallen man was unable to keep.  Thanks be to God that the Father made a covenant of grace with Christ, the second Adam, which he fully kept. Blessings, Jeff The promise in v8 was made to David when he had planned to build the temple and God promised to build him a house forever. (2 Sam 7:10).  Seems like there are only two possibilities about Manasseh's disobedience.  Either he knew of this covenant that God had made with his 13th great grandfather and chose to disregard it, or he didn't know of it and was unaware of the penalty.  Let's con...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 30:16-20 Hearts set to seek the Lord - Day 359

Good morning fellow members of the household of God, After writing the devotional, I am thinking about the Passover as a household event.  In ancient Israel, the physical household of man was covered by the blood of the lamb.  Now, it is the spiritual household of God that is covered by the blood of the Lamb. Blessings, Jeff The account of the greatest celebration of Passover since time of Solomon (v 26).   Observations: One of the things that made this one great is participation of some of the tribes from the northern kingdom.  Israel was a united kingdom and Solomon and now toward the end of the northern kingdom, there is at least a semblance of being united. God allows some exemptions: Who offers the sacrifice:  The original Passover was a family by family sacrifice of a lamb.  However in  Deuteronomy 16:5-6 this changed to a centralized location once they entered the promised land.  (You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more