The Psalms are a collection of songs and prayers many of which are attributed to King David. The Psalms are always salve to my soul, particularly when it is aching. It brings me great healing to pray my own prayers based on these recorded from so long ago. I’ll be posting a new one each Wednesday. Enjoy, and write some of your own!
From Psalm 84
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the living God.
Your house Father is place of peace. You are the most hospitable host! My home is a place of stress. Even when I try to rest in you in my home, I am constantly reminded of the things I need to do. The piles of laundry beckon. The half painted bathroom calls to me.
My heart and my flesh cry out for you the living God. In your home, life happens, and still is beautiful. In my home, life happens, and creates a mess for me to clean up. Each night, if I can muster the energy, I straighten up the day’s mess. And still by 9:00 am the next morning, you would never know I’d tried.
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young – a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. She does not worry. She knows you will take care of her. I also need not worry, you take care of me. But why then do I insist on worrying? Oh, blessed are those who dwell in your house; those who, trusting, have already made it. They know by sight, and they are ever praising you.
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have their hearts set on pilgrimage. Lord, give me the strength to march forward. Give me a heart that is not worn down by putting one foot in front of the other each day. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. Lord, let my tears that come from this weary road be transformed into waters that bring life. Lord, let my home, which is a disaster, become a place of peace. Please let your Holy Spirit hover over my home like he hovered over the chaotic deep. Bring life, and beauty from it. At the end of the day, please say that it is good. I need you to do this over and over, day after day, until I too rest in your house with those who have gone on before.
Lord, I need to know that you hear me. I need to know you care. I would rather be in your home. I’d rather be a servant in your home than running my own. I need for you to be the Lord of my home, and me just your servant in it. I can not run it on my own. Without you, I would need to find a rich man’s job that pays a rich man’s pay and despises the righteous man’s values. I will not do that. I wait on you. You make each day new. Please, bring your spirit onto my home fresh and new each morning with the sun (even before the sun), and give me strength and protection for the day. I trust in you and I will walk in you.
O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.
