praying for ourselves

For the next several weeks we are going to focus on prayers and petitions that we find in scripture. There is no doubt that prayer needs to be the foundation of our spiritual life. Even Jesus built his life and ministry on prayer and so it is important for us to not only pray, but to know how to pray and what to pray for. Today we are going to reflect on what it means to pray for ourselves. I was asked by a college student in Lewisburg if there was something wrong with asking people to pray for him because in all the time he had spent in our church he had never heard anyone ask people to pray for themselves, and I have to admit he was right. In most churches and small groups I have been a part of we don’t really ask people to pray for us. Maybe we feel like it’s selfish, or maybe it’s an issue of pride, whatever it is, we can’t be afraid to pray for ourselves and ask others to pray for us and Psalm 20 gives us two clear requests or petitions we are to make for ourselves and the first one is a prayer for deliverance, look at Psalm 20:1
May the Lord answer you when you are in distress

The NRSV say, may the lord answer you in the day of trouble. Now is there anyone here besides me who knows something about a day of trouble? Anyone ever experience some distress? The truth is we have all experienced some kind of trouble in life. It might be a health issue, maybe it’s a financial crisis, maybe it’s a family or relationship problem, maybe it’s just a spiritual issue of feeling lost and confused –we have all had a day of trouble, maybe we have even had a couple days, maybe your day of trouble is today. The question is what do we do during these days? Psalm 20 makes it clear that when we are distress, we are to cry out to God. In fact, Psalm 20:1 assumes that in our distress or trouble that we have already cried to God. May the Lord answer you when you are in distress assumes we have already asked God for help.

So one of the prayers we are to make for ourselves is a prayer for deliverance and it doesn’t matter what the distress or the problem is, whenever we are in need, we are to cry out to God.
Turn with me to Psalm 107:4-5.

The people here are wandering in the desert. They are unsure of where to go or what to do. They are hungry and thirsty and all that they really know is that they are looking for something. They want something that will satisfy them deeply, but they don’t know where to turn and they don’t know how to get what they need. Have you ever experienced this kind of distress? Have you ever been unsure where to turn but you just know you need something more in your life? Have you ever experienced a spiritual hunger and thirst but you didn’t know where to go to find fulfillment?

Sometimes we think this kind of wandering is only a problem for young people, but the truth is we all face moments when life seems to be empty and we want more. In his book Half-time, Bob Buford says that many people spend the first half of their life searching for success, but success often leaves us feeling hungry and thirsty – we aren’t completely satisfied, so we spend the second half of our life searching for significance. This search for significance is really just wanting something more, something that will last and satisfy us deeply. The question is what do we do if when we feel like we want or need more in life? Where do we turn when we are feeling lost or confused? Look at Psalm 107:6 – the people here cried out to God & God delivered them. When the people turned to God for help, God led them to a place where they could settle down and experience a fuller and more abundant life. God led them to a place where they could find not only food and water, but safety and security and satisfaction. When they cried out to God – God delivered them and God provided for them.

Now look at Psalm 107:10 – 11. The people here are experiencing darkness and bondage. They are feeling trapped they can’t break free from their prison. Have you experienced this kind of distress? It might be the bondage of an addiction, or the prison of despair. It might be something as simple as patterns of thought and behavior that we know are wrong, but we can’t find the strength to break free from. The apostle Paul said it so clearly when he said, the good I want to do, I don’t do, but the evil I don’t want to do, that I keep doing. We all know that feeling and it is a form of bondage and darkness. We become slaves to wrong thinking, bad attitudes, hurtful actions and it becomes so much a part of our lives that as hard as we try, we can’t set ourselves free. If this is the day of trouble we are experiencing, what can we do? Look at Psalm 107:13. The people cried out to God and God delivered them. God brought them out of the darkness and broke away their chains. God set them free. When we cry out to God in the midst of our bondage, God will deliver us.

Now look at Psalm 107:17. The people here are in distress because of their own stupidity or their own sin. Their foolish and rebellious ways have gotten them trouble. Now is there anyone here beside me who can identify with this? How often is it that our own problems get us into trouble? We say or do something before we think and we end up hurting someone we love. Our pride, our greed, our ego get us in trouble and we know it’s our own fault and we know that our day of distress is totally our own doing. Now surely these are the kind of problems we have to fix ourselves right? Wrong – look at Psalm 107:19.

The people cried out to God and God saved them from their distress. In other words God saved them from themselves, from the problems they created and the sins of their own heart and life. And I love how God did it – God sent forth his word and healed them. What is this word? Well, the word of God we read over and over in the OT is a word of love and grace and forgiveness that God offers continuously. The word of God in the NT is Jesus himself, the word made flesh, and what did Jesus come to do but offer us grace & forgiveness. So when we cry out to God in them midst of our sin – God delivers us. God forgives us and God heals us.

Finally, look at Psalm 107:23. These people are experiencing storms which cause them to be terrified. Their courage is melted away. They are at their wits end. Ever experience a storm in life that leaves you terrified and hopeless? Maybe it’s the storm of a disease, the storm of a divorce, or depression, or doubt. There are so many storms that batter us daily & these storms work to undermine our faith and trust at the very moment we need faith and trust the most. In that day of trouble – what will we do? Look at Psalm 107:28. God delivered them and God calmed the storm.

Can we see the pattern here? When the people are in distress they cry out to God, God hears them and God delivers them. We can’t be afraid to cry out to God in times of distress and in our own day of trouble because I believe God is waiting to deliver us. I believe this because this has been my own personal experience of God. During college I had my own day of trouble and like most of us it was a combination of all that we see in Psalm 107. I was searching for something more but didn’t know where to go so I turned to all the wrong things in life. I was filled with pride and sin and made some very poor choices and this all brought on some pretty intense storms. When I couldn’t get any lower and really felt like I was in a hopeless situation, I finally cried out to God because I had no where else to turn, & from the pit of my despair, God heard my cry and God delivered me. I have always believed that the words of Psalm 18 have reflected this time of my life, in fact, I first came across this psalm just a few months after God delivered me from my own storm of doubt and despair. Again, from this psalm we hear this amazing truth that when we cry out to God – God not only hears us but God delivers us. Psalm 18:18:4-6, 16-19.

So Psalm 20 shows us that one of the prayers that we need to lift up on our own behalf is a prayer for deliverance. If you haven’t experienced a day of trouble – you will someday and in that day we need to be able to cry out to God and ask God for help. So what does this kind of prayer sound like? How do we pray when we are in serious trouble? How about this - HELP. All we really need to do is sincerely say, God help me & God is there to respond to our need. When we cry out for help, God will deliver us. The deliverance may not be immediate, and the way God will deliver us may not always make sense and God’s deliverance doesn’t mean we still won’t have to work through the problems in our lives, but when we cry to God for help – God is there and God is there to help.

While we don’t have a lot of time, I want us to quickly look at the other prayer Psalm 20 says we are to make for ourselves. Psalm 20:4. Does it really say that? That God will grant us the desire of our hearts and that he will make all our plans succeed? Yes, it does, but it’s doesn’t just say that here - it also says this in Psalm 145:18-19, the Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him and hears their cry and saves them. And then Proverbs 10:24 it says, the desires of the righteous will be granted. The question is do we believe this? Do we really believe that God wants to grant the desires of our heart? Jesus said that God is like a good father who knows how to give good gifts to his children. God is our loving father who I believe wants to gives us good and perfect gifts and God wants to grant to us the desires of our heart if those desires honor God, ourselves and others.

You see, we have to be careful here because this verse doesn’t mean God is going to give us everything we want. God is not going to fulfill all the selfish desires of our heart. God isn’t going to bless us with obscene amounts of wealth and power just because we want it – in Psalm 145 it said we need to call on God in truth and Proverbs 10 said the desires of the righteous will be granted, so our desires have to honor God and be in line with God’s will and if they are, then God calls us to share these desires with him. Sometimes I think we don’t share our desires with God because we don’t believe that God wants to provide for us, or we don’t believe that God can. Either way, if we don’t ask, we may never receive. Sometimes I wonder how many blessings and how many opportunities we miss because we simply don’t ask God.

Now just one other word as we think about praying for ourselves. We need to notice that in Psalm 20 the context for the prayers for deliverance and the desires of our heart is a ongoing life of praise and trust and thanksgiving. Look at 20:3 –
As we look for deliverance we need to be living a life of thanksgiving, offering our sacrifices and offerings to God.

Look at 20:5 – our request for God to grant the desires or our heart needs to come from a heart that is shouting out songs of joy and lifting up the name of the Lord.

And then look at 20:7 – the prayers we offer to God need to be offered in faith and trust that God will hear and provide. Do we trust that God loves us and that God cares enough about us to deliver us and help us and bless us?

As we pray for God’s deliverance and for the desires of our heart, let us make sure those prayers are coming forth from a heart and life filled with thanksgiving and praise, and let us offer our prayers to God in faith and trust.