It seems in verses 8-14 that others are out to hurt and threaten the psalmist. He is frightened and pleas with God for an answer in his favour. He declares his obedience to God’s word and avoids violence, and he begs God to answer his prayer. Furthermore, he believes that God hears his pleas.
As Christians, we’ve been taught that God hears our prayers, from the smallest seemingly insignificant matters to the larger issues. Anything from helping us find something we’ve lost to prayers for someone in the hospital who’s critically ill or dying. In fact, our prayer list could be quite long.
Unlike the psalmist’s example, it seems easier to pray for others rather than ourselves, as though we aren’t worthy of God’s listening ear. But it’s there, even if the answer isn’t always what we’ve hoped for, or what we think we need right now, like the psalmist wrote. Maybe it’s that we don’t always know how to put our deepest needs into words, but God wants to hear our prayers, even if God already knows what we need.
Dear God, we recognize your power to love and forgive, to protect us from harm and give us good things. Help us to direct our worries heavenward, but also to give thanks when our prayers are answered. Amen. — CRW