Episode 74: Psalm 4:8
Transcription
Today’s verse is Psalm 4:8
In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for You alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety.
Let’s pray together.
Father, I am afraid of the future. Worry fills my heart and mind. The possibilities mock me with their seemingly endless ways to torment me. It can all go so wrong so fast. There are too many barriers, too many questions, too may foes, too many complications. Everything is lined up against me. The people I love can’t be counted on. The people I don’t know block my way. The hopes I had are dead and dying dreams. The faith I needed has abandoned me. Where are You in the midst of the storm?
Help me.
Father, I need the safety of Your Presence. I need the assurance of Your love. I need the comfort of Your plan. I need the surety of You. Be with me, beside me, in me. I don’t ever want to be parted from You. Help me not to stray or run ahead or fall behind or fight You. Help me submit to Your will and hide in the shelter of Your wings.
Help me to hear You when You speak. Because You can do it in so many different ways and it seems like I’m always listening the wrong way. I need Your truth. Help me to be disciplined to seek it in Your word, hiding it in my heart, using it as a light for my feet. It is forever and will never pass away. It keeps the promise it holds, bringing fruit, not a void. Let Your word be the constant meditation of my heart and mind, what I hold before me at all times. Let me delight in it, in your word eternal. I know it is spoken to me. I know it is real. I know that no matter when or how it was originally written, there is something just for me inside of it. Always, no matter how often I have read it before. It is new and true and the same and shifting, and always what I need.
So because of this, Jesus, help me to lie down in sleep, peacefully resting in slumber. Because I know that You are with me. Nothing else can be my surety. No person, thing, skill, wisdom, achievement, possession, talent, or relationship can ever give me actual safety and security. And I crave this, You know I do. So help me trust, so deeply, so truly, so strongly, that You are my safety. That I am safe in You. That no matter what happens to me or where I am, You have not failed. I am held in Your hands, those nail-scarred, beautiful hands. And I am safe. And I am known. And I am loved. And I am home.
I pray this in Your confident and omnipotent name, Jesus. Amen.
