“Essential Prayers: Help” - Psalm 121 and Phil 4: 4-7 Devo

January 7th, 2018

Devotional

“Essential Prayers: Help” - Psalm 121 and Phil 4: 4-7

Keep the sermon topic and Biblical text preaching all week by following Pastor Michelle on twitter @tinypastor and reading her sermon blog www.revmichelle.blogspot.com

Monday: “Help” - Psalm 121: 1-2

My guess is that from time to time, we all get into situations where we need help. Sometimes it relatively simple things - I’m short, so I often need help getting things off of higher selves in stores. Other times its may be a bit more involved, like help solving a problem. Still other times it may be the type of help the Psalmist is speaking about - help that is beyond anything another human can offer, help that can only come from God.

But for some people asking God for help isn’t a natural thing. Think about the people you ask for help when things are complicated - they are often people that you know and trust. In order to be in a place where we can ask God for help, we need to have a relationship with God and believe that God is able to answer our cries and has our best interest at heart. For the Psalmist the reminder of God’s trustworthiness comes in the statement of what God has done in the past - made heaven and earth.

Do you have the type of relationship where you can ask God for help? Do you know that God is able? Do you trust God to provide? May we seek the help of God this week. 

Tell of a time when you cried out to God for help. What happened?

How does remembering how God has acted in the past help you to pray to God in the present?

Prayer: Loving God, thank you for being the One we can trust in all times and circumstances. Lord, we pray today, that you help us lean on you in times of need. To lean on you to provide, even if we are not fully aware of what to ask for. Help us we pray. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Slip” - Psalm 121: 3-4

Psalm 121 is labeled as a song of ascent – a text crafted and sung by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. There were several times a year when people were to make this journey to celebrate feasts together, in community. For many the journey was also made in community – as it was dangerous to travel long distances alone. Oh what we have to learn about daily living and pilgrimage from our ancestors in the Hebrew Scriptures. We need each other to not only travel together to reach our destination safely, but to simply survive each day.

When I think back on the times in my life when I’ve gotten myself in the most trouble, it’s been times when I have wandered. Sometimes this was actual physical wandering. Other times it is a mental wandering. And yet others it is a spiritual wandering. 

The Psalmist is reminding us that God will never be the One who causes us to go astray. Instead, God is the One who keeps our foot from slipping. God watches over us day and night, never slumbering in that vigilance. That watchfulness and faithfulness towards us is part of what makes God worthy to be called upon in times of need. 

Tell of a time in your life when you wandering has gotten you into trouble. What type of wandering was it? How did you draw back to God?

Prayer:  Lord, we confess that sometimes we are not nearly as faithful to you as you are towards us. We confess that we have wandered away from you in so may ways. Forgive us, O Lord. Restore us. Be our constant help in times of need, we pray. Amen. 

Wednesday: “The Lord Watches” - Psalm 121: 5-6

We do not journey without God’s presence. In fact, as the Psalmist reminds us, God is constantly present. Such complexities are what the psalmist seems to be rejoicing in with today’s text. God is the creator of the world, everything from the sky to the tangible soil, yet the Holy One cares about the single footsteps of the Psalmist. Providing shelter when it is needed along the journey, providing sustenance for this pilgrimage of life. Going before us when we set our sites towards something bigger then ourselves, and comes back with us when we return to share our experience with others. It all is just beyond our grasp. 

Lest we think that this psalm is alluding to an easy journey, we have to remember what the pilgrimage to Jerusalem would have been like – depending on where you were coming from you could cross mountains and valleys, and trek through dry areas that didn’t support life. There had to be moments when the pilgrims would think that they were almost there – had almost reached their destination, only to find that yet another mountain lay ahead of them. Along the way there could be times where provision seemed to be absent, where the people feared strangers, and there was the real reality of harm.  We need God’s abiding presence to even be able to take the first step on the journey of faith.

How do you sense God’s presence with you? 

At what times and in what places are you more attuned to noticing God’s presence in your life?

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for being forever present with us. We know that it is our misunderstanding and failure at times when we do not notice your presence. Reveal yourself to us anew, O God. Amen.  

Thursday: “Keep You” - Psalm 121: 7-8

In the end, pilgrims tend to be more about the total experience then reaching the destination – it’s about returning from a time marked in a different way and trying to integrate what you’ve learned into your daily life. In the end, that experience may lead to more questions – about God, others, and ourselves – then answers. And maybe that is what makes pilgrimages, and this time of Lent, so dangerous and yet so revealing. We are journeying into the mystery, expecting to find something but not knowing what it is. Holy mysteries for Divine change. 

What we do know, as we journey through life, and especially when we find ourselves in times of need, that we learn a lot about ourselves and our God. The Psalmist learned that God keep us - keeps us from harm, keeps watch over us. What have you learned about the character of God as you journey through life?

What have difficult times in your life taught you about the character of God?

Prayer: Lord, you thank you for your faithfulness. We thank you that you never leave us nor forsake us. We especially thank you today that you keep watch over us. Thank you, most gracious God! Amen. 

Friday: “Anxious” - Phil 4: 4-7

Paul writes to the church in Philippi that they should rejoice in all circumstances and not be anxious about anything, but those words are particularly hard to live into during times when we need help. Times when the weight of the world seems to be upon us. 

Yet, even in the most challenging of circumstances, the truth is that we can rejoice - not necessarily in what we are going through, but in the faithfulness of God who journeys through all of life with us, not just the easy moments. 

We can bring the totality of who we are and what we experience to God in prayer. Including the times when we simply need to call out to God with one word that describes all that we are feeling, “help.”

What situations make you the most anxious? How can you bring these moments before God?

Tell of a time that God brought you an abiding sense of peace. How did it make you feel?

Prayer: God, you are the source of all peace. Give us such peace in times when we are anxious -  in times when our well laid plans seem to come crashing down. Let us rejoice in you always, precious Lord! Amen. 

Saturday: Preparing for the Word

You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “Essential Prayers: Thanks” -  Psalm 138

Family Activity: Have you family think of different types of things that they need help with. How does it make them feel to ask for help? What happens when you ask for help? What happens when we ask God for help?