A morning prayer through Psalm 37

A prayer through Psalm 37:1-12 (Scripture indented)

⁴ Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Lord Jesus, may I truly delight in you and your ways during this your day.  May I trust in you above all others and all gifts.  You are good.  My core tells me this and life affirms this.  May my heart truly delight in you and your ways.  When I step away from you, life is confusing and painful.  When I walk with you, delight in you, I am at home.  Father, may I delight in you in everything.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. ⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

Lord Jesus, please grant me the strength to simply commit my ways to you this day.  May I wake up today and do what I know is right, as is testified by you and your Word.  Where my trust and faith are lacking, please help me.  Grant me courage, stamina, and strength today.  May I trust in you in everything, confident in your words that you WILL act.

⁷ Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! ⁸ Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

Father, quite my heart and mind before you.  Help me to wait patiently in all things, even as I act in faith and obedience today.  May I see that waiting patiently on you is a quieting of my soul, not a paralysis of my feet nor a lack of giving through my hands.  Your will for humanity is clearly spelled out in your Word.  May I be quiet before you in my soul.  May I move forward in the love of the Gospel in my actions and deeds.  Godly patience is derived from the confidence that you are real and the one who ultimately holds all things together.  Help me, Father, to be at rest in my spirit today, while moving out in faith to those around me through the love of Christ Jesus.

⁹ For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. ¹⁰ In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. ¹¹ But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. ¹² The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, ¹³ but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. . .

Make me a man of patience.  I am lacking.  In patience, I am confident that it is you, Lord, who will ultimately right all wrongs.  It is you, Christ Jesus, who loves goodness and hates evil and sin.  Judgment is ultimately yours and yours alone.  May I judge not others, yet hold firm to what I know to be right, as clarified in your word.  You will reward patience and trust in you.  You will right wrongs done to those who have suffered through the sins of others.  Evil designs and plots are against you and your ways, yet it phases you not. You literally brush off the wicked with a laugh.  Thank you for caring so much about good that you will deal with wickedness to the full measure of your justice.  Thank you that in you, and you alone, do we find complete and perfect justice.  Our soul longs for it.  You provide it.

³⁹ The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. ⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

Lord Jesus, I praise you that YOU are the ultimate. You are the Savior. You are truly our “stronghold in times of trouble”.  Thank you that ultimate purpose, joy, contentment, and satisfaction lie in you.  Thank you that you are “the way, the truth, and the life”.  In you, and you alone do we find purpose, righteous, and life.