January 4
“Hear a just cause, O Lord, attend to my cry; give ear to my prayer which is not from deceitful lips . . . As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness,” Psalm 17:1, 15.
At the beginning of Psalm 17, David pleads with the Lord to listen to his cry. He asks God to listen to his prayer, which is being sincerely offered. Then he mentions the various things that are resting heavily upon his heart. However, he prays with confidence that God will hear and answer his prayer. “I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God; incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech,” Psalm 17:6.
The psalmist steps before God like a beggar, pleading with the almighty God to be gracious and merciful to him. “Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings.” As he does in so many of the psalms, David prays to be protected from the many enemies who are determined to hurt and destroy him. His enemies are watching his every move. They are lurking like wild animals, ready to pounce upon him when the time is right.
David’s prayer reminds us of how King Hezekiah prayed when he was being threatened by Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Hezekiah pleaded, “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God . . . Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone,” Isaiah 37:16-17, 20.
Through the prophet Isaiah, King Hezekiah was assured that God had heard and would answer his prayer. The angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 of the Assyrian soldiers in one night. Sennacherib went home, and later he was killed by his own sons.
Today, throughout the world and in our own nation, people who are in government need to have their eyes opened that the Lord is God, and He alone rules in all the kingdoms of the world which He created.
As Christians, let us be on our knees pleading and praying like King David and King Hezekiah for the sake and the welfare of our nation and other nations. Let us be as confident as David was when he said, “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” David was looking beyond this life to the day when he would be raised from the dead and be received into the glory of heaven.
God gives us the same assurance that He has given to His children in every generation that He will hear and answer our prayers. Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord says, “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear,” Isaiah 65:24.
The Lord Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you,” John 16:23. “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive,” Matthew 21:22.
”Come, my soul, thy suit prepare,
Jesus loves to answer prayer;
He Himself has bid thee pray,
Therefore will not say thee nay.
Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and pow’r are such,
None can ever ask too much.” Amen.