Prayer for This Morning, 1/24/2015 from Psalm 30

Precious Heavenly Father, You have not permitted the devil to defeat and destroy me
or any that are in Christ Jesus. You have given me everlasting life and an eternal
inheritance in Jesus Christ that none of the darkness of Satan’s kingdom of sin and
misery can take from me. You have saved my soul. And I would call on all saints to
give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness, for our God is not like anything that
He made. He is holy and perfect and totally wise in all his works of power and glory
and love.

O Lord, You are certainly angry with the sins of His people, but it is the anger of a
father and not a judge. It is anger that may endure for a night, but joy will come in the
morning as He shows His loving and fatherly face again. We see life in His grace and
weeping cannot endure forever.

Sometimes we think that we will always know and see Your favor in this life. We may
confidently boast, “I shall never be moved. I am a mountain that You have made
strong and secure,” and we live in a carnal security with our hearts far from You, O
Lord Because of Your eternal love for us, You hide Your Fatherly face from us and we
sink into despair.

In our trouble we cry to You, O Lord. We think a great deal of ourselves even in our
prayers to You, sometimes, and we think that Your work on the earth will be greatly
troubled if we are not there to look after it. “What profit is in our death,” we cry to You
and we forget that in life or in death we belong to our faithful Savior.

But imperfect though our prayers are, You are faithful to hear when we cry to You for
mercy. As a faithful Father You know how to give good gifts to Your children and
You answer when we cry, “Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be my
helper.”

The weeping that endured for the night is turned into the gladness of morning, for in
my distress I have learned a most important lesson, and that lesson has turning my
mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth, and strengthen me with
gladness, for the joy of the Lord is my strength.

I have learned, O Lord, that my glory is my tongue and I will sing praise to You, O
Lord, and not be silent, but will give thanks to You forever and ever. Death will not
quiet this voice, nor diminish my joy, for to be absent from the body is to be present
with the Lord.

Amen and Amen, precious Lord my Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, exalted King of Kings.

“1 I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to
rejoice over me. 2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 3 O
LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I
should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give
thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in
his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

“6 ¶ And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. 7 LORD, by thy favour thou
hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. 8
I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication. 9 What profit is
there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it
declare thy truth? 10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my
helper. 11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my
sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to
thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.” (Ps
30:1-12 AV)