Midweek Praise: Why?

Wednesday September 9 2020

Psalm 119: vs 33-40 In times of need, a prayer for understanding is helpful.

Teach me, LORD, the meaning of your laws, and I will obey them at all times.
Explain your law to me, and I will obey it; I will keep it with all my heart.
Keep me obedient to your commandments, because in them I find happiness.
Give me the desire to obey your laws rather than to get rich.
Keep me from paying attention to what is worthless; be good to me, as you have promised.
Keep your promise to me, your servant— the promise you make to those who obey you.
Save me from the insults I fear; how wonderful are your judgments!
I want to obey your commands; give me new life, for you are righteous.

Some people think that we are helpless when we are apart from the Lord and so, it is important that we learn to ask and depend upon God to teach us His laws and then we can follow them. We are all God’s people and as such, we are given free will. However, we can be greatly influenced by those around us in both good and not so good ways but, only God can show us the truth of His Word and then give us the ability to obey it. We have wayward hearts which want to obey but quite often we can be distracted and carry on with our own selfish way of life. No matter how much we want to please God and be loyal to Him, we sometimes use our free will to go off on our own path without realising the distance we create between God and ourselves.
One solution to this is prayer, for only the Lord can keep our way obedient and in prayer we can ask Him to direct our path to true happiness. In prayer we can ask Him to keep us humble and turn us away from worthless things and unworthy deeds. He alone can save us from disappointment. If we want to live the life God wants us to live, we have to be very choosy about what we give our lives and attention to. We must not lose sight of what is really important in our Christian lives.
Many of the things we focus on in life won’t matter very much in the end, especially if they are worldly things. When we lie on our deathbeds, we won’t wish we had worked harder or made more money or had a better job. We will likely wish that we had loved God more, focused on people more, spent more time with our families, shared our faith more, prayed more and pursued God’s purpose for our lives. Like the Psalmist, we have to decide to give ourselves to God. Only God can grant us understanding, inspiration and the joy to follow Him. So, if you have not tried this before, try this prayer now.

Prayer
Loving Father in heaven, if it be your will, strengthen us in our resolve to be good people, that we may be your faithful children; that we may be ready to serve the community we are part of; that we may have the energy to serve you and your people with grace, love and compassion. We acknowledge and understand, loving God, that we are weak and helpless without you, and we ask that you hear our prayer this day.
Amen