PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Psalm 9:9-20 “the cry of the afflicted”

Time to reflect: A problem most of us in the “First World” have in reading the Bible is that a lot of it is addressed to oppressed, downtrodden, or suffering people. We can't really relate to those passages directly. (Most of our “troubles” do not come close to comparing to the people being addressed in this Psalm or so many other passages in Scripture.)

Moving through the day: Pray and meditate on how to appropriate and apply passages like this. Pray for people for whom it applies directly.

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
       a stronghold in times of trouble.

  Those who know your name will trust in you,
       for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

  Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
       proclaim among the nations what he has done.

  For he who avenges blood remembers;
       he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

  O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
       Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,

  that I may declare your praises
       in the gates of the Daughter of Zion
       and there rejoice in your salvation.

  The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
       their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

  The LORD is known by his justice;
       the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
       Higgaion. Selah

  The wicked return to the grave,
       all the nations that forget God.

  But the needy will not always be forgotten,
       nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.

  Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph;
       let the nations be judged in your presence.

 Strike them with terror, O LORD;
       let the nations know they are but men.
       Selah