The weekend Psalm
Read Psalm 12 from the World English Bible
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This is a Thanksgiving and Royal Enthronement Psalm.
The Big Idea
When you read this Psalm, think in terms off gratitude: God has provided; God is providing; God will provide. The gratitude of the King in this Psalm is not based on having arrived--the first verse makes that clear. Everything is based on the strength, and faithfulness, of God.
These days, the wrath of God is not a trendy topic, but there it is, in roughly the last half of this Psalm. It's important to recognize that we cannot fully understand the absolute, untarnished perfection of God. For us, tarnished and imperfect as we are, we quickly lose sight of the fact that even God's wrath is good, loving, and holy. As our Orthodox Christian brethren would say, it is a mystery.
This Psalm refers to "The King," so while it is a reference to King David, it is a prophecy about the Messiah, Jesus. He is the bridge between God's wrath and God's favor. The one way out of despair and hopelessness.
Meditation
You may struggle with this, but the point of the Psalms is to give us a new vocabulary for prayer. You can pray this whole Psalm for our leaders -- and if you are a leader, you can pray it for yourself, if you have the courage.
Pray all of the blessings and benefits on behalf of good leaders, and pray all of the curses on behalf of evil leaders. But note this: You don't get to decide which is which. Again, God does. Jesus provides the pathway out of the curse and into the blessing.
This is not a place for editorializing in your prayers, and reminding God of who is good and who is evil in your eyes. This is the time to simply pray: Use the words and ideas given to us here, and trust God.
I find that when I pray this way, I become more and more aware of the faults, weaknesses, and sins in my own life. It becomes an opportunity for repentance -- turning to God and trusting in His strength. Jesus, as the King, is that strength, personified. And that idea brings us right back to the opening phrases of this Psalm.
Praying With This Psalm
The focus of our prayer in Psalm 21 must be on God's Goodness. God is always good, even when our limited perspective won't let us see it for ourselves.
- Almighty God, may ______ trust in your strength and the assurance that you have provided, you are providing, and that you will provide.
- Oh, Yahweh, examine _____'s heart(s) and make us holy.
- May ____ trust in the lovingkindness of Yahweh.
- Lord God, I fearfully ask that you find out those who hate you and devour them. May they have no future, no inheritance, no hope because they havea turned from youi.
- When ______ face those who plot evil, may we rejoice and celebrate your strength and your power.
Related Scriptures and Scripture Prayers
- Ephesians 2:3-5 -- May ____ remember that we were all once "children of wrath," just like everyone else.
- Ephesians 2:3-5 -- May _____ remember that Jesus is the only way to move from God's wrath to God's blessing. even as the rest.
- Ephesians 2:3-5 -- May _____ live in gratitude that God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved..."
- I Timothy 2:1-2 -- Lord, hear our petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks" for everyone, including "all who are in high places, that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence."
- 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 -- May ____ seek Jesus Christ, who delivers us from the wrath to come,
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