Thoughts for the Day

Prayer for Deliverance from Persecutors. A Prayer of David.

Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.
From you let my vindication come;
let your eyes see the right.

If you try my heart, if you visit me by night,
if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me;
my mouth does not transgress.
As for what others do, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.
My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me, hear my words.
Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O saviour of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.

Guard me as the apple of the eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
from the wicked who despoil me,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
They close their hearts to pity;
with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
They track me down, now they surround me;
they set their eyes to cast me to the ground.
They are like a lion eager to tear,
like a young lion lurking in ambush.

Rise up, O Lord, confront them, overthrow them!
By your sword deliver my life from the wicked,
from mortals—by your hand, O Lord—
from mortals whose portion in life is in this world.
May their bellies be filled with what you have stored up for them;
may their children have more than enough;
may they leave something over to their little ones.

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

My mother sometimes needed the wisdom of a judge. "Who pinched the raspberries from the garden" she might ask us children when we lived on an isolated small holding? She would be faced with three innocent faces saying "Not me!", and often with the most innocent-looking and vociferous declaration coming from the culprit! At times we were all, I am sure, not so innocent as we claimed.

Perhaps the first thing to notice in Psalm 17 is that it's obvious that David is surrounded by his enemies, and in desperate need of help. So we might expect his first words to God to be an appeal for safety. After all who, when they're about to be killed, stops to ask God to test their innocence? The difference is that David has been tested by God before, and knows to trust Him. If this is at a time early on when King Saul is seeking his life, then David believes God would agree his innocence and therefore answer his plea for protection. So, in the first half of the psalm David appeals to God as a Judge, and only then as a Friend and Protector in the second half.

Psalm 17 give us some of the most beautiful and descriptive of imagery. David asks God to guard him "as the apple of the eye" (the centre of an eye), and to hide him "in the shadow of your wings" (perhaps thinking of an eagle on the edge of a nest protecting its young). At the end of this section he describes his enemies as lions who are "eager to tear" him apart. These are images that those who live alongside the desert wastes and mountains of Jordan would be accustomed to seeing.

↠ Do we need to look deep into our heart before turning to God for help, and ask ourselves: "What do we need to confess? Are our motives honest or selfish? Are our priorities the right ones?"

Lord God,
help us to examine our hearts this day:-
that our motives for prayer
may be honest;
may be unselfish;
may be open to Your prompting;
may include people and situations we like and dislike;
may include local and international requests;
and above all may be acceptable to Your plans
for ourselves, and for Your world.
Amen.