READING:
One-year plan: Psalms 85-89, 1 Corinthians 2:1-3:17
Two-year plan: 1 Samuel 17:21-58, Luke 19:41-20:8
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Today’s Old Testament reading reverberates with echoes of prayer and petition. Listen to these words of the psalmist, and pause to consider praying the words yourself if they are appropriate:
- “Listen, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.” (Psa 86:1)
- “Be gracious to me, Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant’s life, because I appeal to you, Lord.” (Psa 86:3-4)
- “For you, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive, abounding in faithful love to all who call on you.” (Psa 86:5)
- “Lord, hear my prayer; listen to my cries for mercy. I call on you in the day of my distress, for you will answer me.” (Psa 86:6-7)
- “Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out before you day and night. May my prayer reach your presence; listen to my cry.” (Psa 88:1-2)
- “Lord, I cry out to you all day long.” (Psa 88:9)
- “But I call to you for help, Lord; in the morning my prayer meets you.” (Psa 88:13)
In the toughest times of life, we can—we must—cry out to the Lord. When so much of the world petitions false gods who have “hears but cannot hear,” that is not the situation for Christ followers. Our God, the one true God, hears.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you amazed by God’s willingness to hear you?
DAILY PRAYER: “Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and amen.” (Psa 89:52)
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Psalms 90-94, 1 Corinthians 3:18-4:21
Two-year plan: 1 Samuel 18-19, Luke 20:9-26