Slices
Prepare
Is your heart 100 per cent for God?
Bible passage
A prayer of David.
1 Hear me, Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; 3 have mercy on me, Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
for I put my trust in you.
5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, Lord;
listen to my cry for mercy.
7 When I am in distress, I call to you,
because you answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;
no deeds can compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made
will come and worship before you, Lord;
they will bring glory to your name.
10 For you are great and do marvellous deeds;
you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, Lord,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name for ever.
13 For great is your love towards me;
you have delivered me from the depths,
from the realm of the dead.
14 Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God;
ruthless people are trying to kill me –
they have no regard for you.
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me;
show your strength on behalf of your servant;
save me, because I serve you
just as my mother did.
17 Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Explore
This is a deep and personal prayer from David. Nevertheless it is still very much a prayer we can pray ourselves. It seems very contemporary and captures so much of what it means to live as a Christian today. We worship a good God (vs 5,13,15) and a powerful God (vs 8,10). We are in need of him: his forgiveness and mercy (vs 1–7). We can call on him, bringing our needs and requests to him (vs 2–4,16,17).
One cry of David’s that might resonate with us, especially if we see a bit of ourselves in the way Judah related to God in Jeremiah, is David’s prayer for an undivided heart. In Jeremiah 17 we saw the problems of a prideful heart and saw the solution of the trusting heart. But a prideful heart seems such an enduring problem, so much so that in Jeremiah 31 there is the promise that God will deal with the problem by writing his law on his people’s hearts.
However, even with the gift of the Holy Spirit, that work of God on our hearts is incomplete. We still have divided hearts. Do you experience this in your life? Do you nod in agreement when reading Romans where Paul writes that, ‘I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out’ (Romans 7:18)?
Respond
Read Psalm 86 as a prayer. In particular, pray that God will continue to transform you, giving you an undivided heart.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Kings 1,2; Psalm 55
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray that the staff, branch directors, and coordinators who run SU Korea’s Bible meditation and camps will have wisdom and discernment in responding to changing needs, and that this ministry will transform the lives of many people.
Because a strong start begins with smart preparation
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