A Prayer for Today

June 16

(Psalms 67:1-7 NIV)  "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, {2} that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. {3} May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. {4} May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. {5} May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. {6} Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. {7} God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him."

(Numbers 14:41-45 NIV) “But Moses said, "Why are you disobeying the Lord's command? This will not succeed! {42} Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, {43} for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword." {44} Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord's covenant moved from the camp. {45} Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.”

David’s short prayer song is an appeal for God’s blessing. David asks God to shine upon people, so they can bask in His glory. He prays the ways of the Lord will become known all over the Earth and that God’s salvation will be accepted by all nations. He prays that people will fear God and praise Him. He prays that the world will accept God’s just rule and divine guidance. It’s a prayer that needs to be repeated today, but it’s seldom heard. God’s blessing is presumed upon by so many. We assume God will bless us and so we don’t have to ask anymore. We assume that His salvation will be shared among the nations, so we don’t need to go. We assume that the land will yield a harvest, so we no longer pray for it. We assume that people will fear God and learn His ways, so we don’t need to evangelize and teach. But here’s the truth: Presuming upon the Lord never ends well. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day