Praying the Psalms

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Where are you God?

This devotional is written by Nicole Adamides.  I've been at St Mary's for about 5 years after seeing the "dream team" at New Wine. A south-Londoner who loves travelling, I now travel to my sofa to visit far flung places through the TV. The God phrase that I try to live by and to encourage others with is "with Him the best is yet to come". It's been an amazing journey so far!

Psalm 13

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me for ever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, 'I have overcome him,' and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing the Lord's praise, for he has been good to me.

Reflection


At the heart of this psalm is relationship, from which honesty and boldness are expressed. Where are you Lord? I miss you. I desperately need you. They are needy and demanding words! It is God, the Creator, they are addressing!

I love the psalms because many are raw and full of pain, loss and reality. Here in just six verses, we see the psalmist go from deep anxiety, crushing grief to a place where faith is rising and so there is a promise of hope. This psalm is about a longing to hear God's voice, to know His presence and have hope for the future. These words are spoken out of a place of knowing God's love; they are spoken out of the knowledge of who God is because of what He has done. At the end, the answers haven't come yet but we see that as the writer, King David, prays, God is changing him and filling him with hope.

This psalm is so relevant for many of us now. Many of us are struggling with loss of hope and direction, made worse by loneliness, fear, anger and disappointment. We need to hear God now, more than ever. Dare I say: these feelings will come again.

I've met God in extraordinary ways, seen Him do amazing things and yet I can easily forget these. How about you? Remember what God has done for you in the past, how He has met with you; loved you; answered prayer. I encourage you to keep notes of those moments so that when you feel anxious and lost, you can remind yourself of God's unending faithfulness. He never changes and He will never leave you.

As we pray, we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit and that changes us. Faith rises.Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.




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