MEDITATIONS FROM THE PSALMS

 

December 1, 2004 

 

Reading: Psalm 6

“The LORD has heard my supplication ;The LORD will receive my prayer” Ps 6:9

           

A traveler in China visited a heathen temple on a great feast day. Many were the worshippers of the hideous idol enclosed in a sacred shrine. The visitor noticed that many of the devotees brought with them small pieces of paper on which prayers had been written or printed. These they would wrap up in little balls of stiff mud and fling them at the idol. He enquired the reason for this strange proceeding, and was told that if the mud fell off, the prayer was rejected by the god.

In the light of this and every heathen prayer ritual, how wonderful is the positive and assuring statement penned by the psalmist. There is no doubt here, no throwing prayers at the Almighty in the desperate hope that a few will stick, that maybe He will hear and receive my prayer. The promises of God, and they are numerous, are all accompanied with “shall” or “will.” The “maybe” and “perhaps” are words that accompany such mud-slinging prayers of those who do not know Jehovah, the Great “I AM.”

When Elijah challenged the priests of Baal, he said in mockery, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened." So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention” 1 Kings 18:27-29.

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place” 2 Chron 7:14-15.

O, my soul, do you have confidence in the promises of your Maker? Do you seek His face with the assurance He will hear your supplication and receive your prayer? Or, do you approach His throne throwing prayers with the hope they will stick? Such confidence will be yours only if you humble yourself and turn from your wicked ways. Complicity with a besetting sin is not the behavior of one who has humbled himself before God. Petitioning God for something that will advance your will if it is not in line with His, will not be heard. “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” John 14:13-14.

 

Dear Father in heaven, teach me to humble myself before You. Create in me a heart that desires only that Your will be done. Then I will be able to say with confidence, “The LORD has heard my supplication; The LORD will receive my prayer.”

 

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” Luke 11:9-10.