Ps 119:145-152 Qoph
145 I call with all my heart; answer me, O LORD, and I will obey your decrees. 146 I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes. 147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word. 148 My eyes stay open through the watches of the night that I may meditate on your promises. 149 Hear my voice in accordance with your love; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your laws. 150 Those who devise wicked schemes are near, but they are far from your law. 151 Yet you are near, O LORD, and all your commands are true. 152 Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever.

There is nothing more humbling and yet more rewarding than a heart that is broken and devastated that turns to God in contrition and pleads for relief. This is an acknowledgement that we don’t have the answers or solutions to the circumstances we face. This is admitting that things are bigger than we are but at the same time it is a recognition that God is greater than our life and the world in which we live. It is a submitting our destiny to the will of God instead of trying to do things our way. It is this kind of prayer that pleases God. Jesus said the brief prayer of the tax collector was pleasing to God and it is one of the shorter prayers recorded in scripture: “God be merciful to me, the sinner.” Another heartfelt but short prayer was uttered by Peter as he was attempting to walk on the water to Jesus and as he began to sink he cried: “Lord, save me!”

A person who has submitted their heart and will to God is in the proper position to pray to him. It is this person who can feel the need for God, for his protection and his guidance. It is this attitude that we must continue to have even when things are going great in our lives. When we are not in trouble we must never forget that God is still with us and we are to follow him and his lead. It is then that we need to follow the instructions that Jesus gave Peter in the garden to: “watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.” Unfortunately for Peter on that occasion, he neither watched nor prayed but slept and within a short time he denied the Lord three times. Jesus prayed for Peter, that after he failed he would return and strengthen his brethren and this he did. We too can do this.

O God, help me keep my eyes open to you and my heart filled with humble prayer so that I can be strengthened to resist temptation and the tricks of the devil. Fill me with your Spirit so I will ever be in touch with you and will be molded to your likeness more every day. Help me know how to use my life to help others and to be an encouragement to them. Use me to comfort those in distress. Give help to the elderly whose bodies have grown weak and tired. I pray in Jesus name. Robert