Episode 124: Psalm 9:18

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Dear friends, welcome to Peace Prayers. My name is Juli, the creator and host of the podcast, and I would love to be able to spend some time with you today. Our goal is to take a few moments and dive deep into God’s word before meditating on it ourselves. I’ll read a scripture from the Bible, and then pray it over our lives. Please join me in the prayer. Invite a friend to listen in and let’s begin our day with God’s peace. I am so excited to get started; thank you for joining me today.

You’re listening to Episode 124 and today’s verse is Psalm 9:18

But the needy will not be ignored forever;
the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed.

Let’s pray together.

God, I hardly know how to pray today because when I look around me, I see so much need and hopes being dashed. I see poverty and disease and famine and war. Innocent people are being hurt and broken and it doesn’t seem like it will ever end. It seems like there is no answer. It seems that there is no victory and no hope.

I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand in this life why it is this way. I understand that people brought sin into this world and that it’s the cause of every horrific thing in it. I understand that our own brokenness defeats us. I understand that free will is important, but with it comes the ability for awful things to happen. But I still don’t understand fully why You can’t just fix it.

Yet You did fix it. I have to acknowledge that. I have to remember You gave everything to fix it. And I live in time, but You do not. This life is subject to death and misery and violence, but that is not forever. Even if something is not cured now, fixed now, healed now, made abundant now, it will be in Your kingdom. Every single thing that has ever been wrong in this world will be made right. You have promised this.

So, LORD, help me to have faith and hope when things seem hopeless, when the dark closes in and suffering is all I can see. Whether it’s my own or others, pain and grief is overwhelming. So I need You to help me get through it and know how to be helpful. I desire to trust in You, so please enable me to do so. I can’t do it on my own.

And even though not everything will be restored in this life, still I pray, God, for those who need You. There are some things that will be fixed in life. You are a God of miracles and I have seen them happen. You care more about the pain of those around me than I do. And You know how to help them, the best way, even when I would wave my hands and make it all better.

You tell me to pray. So I pray for the sick and injured to receive Your healing. I pray for the impoverished and hungry, that their needs will be met. I pray for those in physical need, that You protect them and provide for them. I pray for the weary ones, that You will give them rest. I pray for those waiting, those grieving, those looking. Let them have Your gifts, Your comfort, Your truth.

And may I be Your hands and feet to bring light and love to those around me and may I always seek to better those I encounter, not adding to the brokenness I see around me.

I pray this in the eternal and giving name of Jesus. Amen.

That is the end of our collective prayer, but don’t forget that you can keep praying and meditating on this on your own. Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you have a peaceful rest of your day. I’d love to ask you a favor before we go and that is to please subscribe and leave a review for the podcast if you haven’t already. That is the best way to invite other people to join us in our prayers and it helps me more than you can know.

I also want to get to know each other better. Follow me over on Instagram where I’ve recently updated my handle to reflect my married name. It’s now thejulihernandez where you can DM me prayer requests or suggestions on verses you’d like me to pray on the podcast or just let me know what’s going on in your life. Another way to get in touch with what I’m up to is on my website at www.thejulihernandez.com. My website hosts a transcription of each prayer so that you can pray them whenever you like. You’ll also see monthly blog posts that detail my current writing projects and I can’t wait to engage with you on that. Let’s connect, but for now, Shalom.