1 Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am godly;
save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.
3 Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all the day.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
listen to my plea for grace.
7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
for you answer me.
Thanksgiving. The turkey is in the oven. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is on the TV. Egg Nog has already been broken into by my crew. Jack’s parents are here, along with his niece from D.C. All of my crew is here except for Timothy, who has a tradition of eating a HUGE spread with his best friend’s family. I’ve worked this morning, just having submitted my last document for today, and am planning on taking the rest of the day off.
I truly am full of thanksgiving today. What does that mean though? I think it means cultivating an awareness of giving thanks for all things. In all circumstances. Sort of like cultivating an attitude of prayer–trying to make prayer a nearly constant part of your day. Thanksgiving should be a part of every day. Not something I certainly succeed at, but something I would like to incorporate as a discipline in my life.
This Psalm (above the post) is the cry of my heart today. It’s found in Psalm 86:1-7. I know I’ve written this before, but I am so grateful for the Psalm writers because they seem to be able to give words to what my soul often can not say. It is like the authors of the Psalms invite us to look over their shoulders as they pour out their hearts to God. They do not mince words. They are honest and straight forward, yet remaining respectful to the reverence due to our God.
My friends, I am preparing to walk through something almost as daunting as what my family and I walked through 3 years ago. I am not prepared or willing to share the details in such a public forum. I’m not ready to share the details except among those that I am closest to. I’m sure you understand, I ask you to please understand. My health is good, it is nothing like that. But I also ask you to please, please pray for me and my family.
I love this Psalm because it truly does express exactly where I am at.
Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
I need God to truly incline His ear to me and answer me. I do not feel poor or needy. But I am concerned and apprehensive.
Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.
I would not say that I am godly. Good grief, I would say that I am far from it. But I do need God to preserve me life. I love the word “preserve”. One of the definitions is “to keep safe from harm or injury”. Another definition is “to keep possession of”. I need God to keep possession of me, even though it is difficult to sense his presence right now. I know I am His. I know I will remain His, no matter what happens in the future.
“Who trusts in you…..you are my God” I need to make this phrase something that I pray every day. Circumstances are completely out of my control. My future lies in the hands of God. I have not choice but to trust Him, regardless of how difficult that may be. I can not lose sight that God is my God.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day.
A theme of my life since becoming a believer is the grace of God. He has truly been gracious to me. I now need His graciousness even more. Be gracious to me O Lord. Please be gracious to me. My dependance upon Him is about to be tested to a whole new level, and to Him I will cry all the day. He is my only hope. I need to sense His presence and His peace.
Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
My Lord is good. My Lord is forgiving. I need His forgiveness every single day. Every single day. And there is that phrase again, the phrase that I come to so often in the Psalms “Steadfast Love”. That means, to me, that his love does not change. That His love is constant in the face of my un-constant-ness. And it is available to all who call upon Him.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace.
I am currently pleading with God for grace. I need His grace and mercy. I need Him to hear my prayer. For my sake and for the sake of my crew. Please, friends, pray with me.
In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.
This is the day of my trouble. I have faced troubled days before, greatly troubled days. I am there again, different but similar. In this day of my trouble, I have no choice but to call upon God. I take great encouragement in this verse, that God will answer me. That He will hear me and answer me. That He will not abandon me, even when I can not sense His presence.
Happy Thanksgiving my friends. I am so, so very incredibly grateful for each and every one of you. You have loved our family well. We will never be able to repay all you have done for us. And I’m calling on you again, pleading with you to pray with and for us.
All my love,
Shelly