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Tuesday, July 05, 2005

A Prayer in the Night

"Turn to me and be gracious to me,
       for I am lonely and afflicted.

The troubles of my heart have multiplied;
       free me from my anguish.

Look upon my affliction and my distress
       and take away all my sins.

See how my enemies have increased
       and how fiercely they hate me!

Guard my life and rescue me;
       let me not be put to shame,
       for I take refuge in you.

May integrity and uprightness protect me,
       because my hope is in you."

-Psalm 25:16-21

God led me to this passage late last night. I was up searching for something I could hold on to that would help keep Him closer to me, because I was ashamed of how much sin I had fallen in to just that day and I have been feeling the hurt of some things in my life much more acutely in these past days, almost as if I had tried to stitch up an old wound myself and this past week I burst the stitches again. Then the Lord showed me this prayer, and it was the cry of my heart. It was what I have been seeking Him for in my life, what I long for Him to do in my life in this season. He had given me a prayer to hold on to, but He wasn't finished with me yet. He still had a promise to remind me of. In my Bible, right on the opposite page from this passage happens to be one of my favorite passages in the Bible and one that, as many of you probably know, God has woven into my soul in this season. After I had read and prayed the passage above, God turned my eyes back to these verses that I had skipped over and He told me that this was His answer to my prayer:

"You prepare a table before me
       in the presence of my enemies.
       You anoint my head with oil;
       my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me
       all the days of my life,
       and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
       forever."

-Psalm 23:5-6

except He read it to me, over me. "I prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies..."
My God is a good God, and I pray I never lose sight of that, no matter how thick a haze of pain or conflict I am called to endure.

I would appreciate all of your prayers for me, especially since the Holland team (of which I am a part) leaves in a little less than two weeks, and seeing how there will probably be plenty of spiritual warfafre there (or not, for our God takes care of us) I would rather not bring any with me. Thank you all so much. God bless y'all. Take care.







"I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living."

Psalm 27:13

6 Comments:

Blogger heartlikeaglass said...

thank you for that. i feel like i might finally be coming up again for breath, after having nearly blacked out for lack of oxygen so far down underwater... i tell you what, man: i sure could use a set of gills!

12:59 AM  
Blogger /es/\e said...

I love that we can know that our God hears us. And that he doesn’t just care but is actively setting about to… woo us… bless us… feasts in the presence of enemies… overrunning cups…. Do we live like this? Must we fight through the one who would rob us of our blessing? God, fight for us… show us the sin, hear our prayer, we acknowledge you and trust that our path will be made straight. God, restore our identities… save our souls daily… give us confidence in who we are with Christ in us… let us see your goodness… here. now. on earth as it is in heaven... Amen.

9:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those are great verses from Psalms! You knwo what Ben? God has blessed you by you being a blessing to everyone. God bless you man!

4:45 PM  
Blogger Joanna said...

to your post, and to all comments:
amen.

:)

10:07 PM  
Blogger heartlikeaglass said...

"goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" = apartment to move into (the 29th/30th) so we (arielle, heather anne, myself) don't have to be homeless for two weeks (i.e. - crash at mom's) and move our stuff into storage and back out (effectively moving TWICE) like last year! YAY!!! (:

10:38 AM  
Blogger heartlikeaglass said...

no, no; just roommates - consider for a moment that i am about a foot taller...
my only sisters are assimilated (cutraras - joanna, kristianna, arielle) and in-law (nellie de jong, wife of my big brother justin who plays lead guitar for mali).
got it? there'll be a quiz...

1:12 AM  

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