Daily Prayer Devotional for Women and Men

Devotional

(From Scripture Union)

REASONS TO BE THANKFUL

Pray

Lord, ingratitude is not in our vocabulary.

Read

PSALM 111

1 Praise the Lord .[b] I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. 2 Great are the works of the Lord ; they are pondered by all who delight in them. 3 Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. 4 He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate. 5 He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. 6 He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations. 7 The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. 8 They are established for ever and ever, enacted in faithfulness and uprightness. 9 He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever— holy and awesome is his name. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

Footnotes Psalm 111:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, the lines of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 111:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah

Meditate

Consider

You might like to pray: ‘Don’t let me settle for the shallows of mere religious compliance. Fill me with the joyful fear that comes as we seek Your face.’ (Timothy Keller, My Rock; My Refuge, Hodder & Stoughton, 2018)

Think Further

This psalm forms a pair with Psalm 112, the first focusing upon the Lord, the next upon His people. That has to be the right way round! Jesus teaches us to begin prayer by acknowledging ‘Our Father in heaven’ (Matt 6:9), His transcendence and His nearness guiding and shaping the rest of our thoughts. So, ‘Praise the Lord’ (1) is the place to start. The rest of the psalm explains why – fixing our eyes on His provision, His promises, His power, His faithfulness and justice, His redemption. It’s a psalm to work through slowly, stopping at each verse to ponder and wonder at the Lord who is willing to be called, ‘Our Father’.

Praising the Lord aright means being wholehearted and public about it. It is something that the psalmist is going to do in front of others, seeking out others to share his enthusiastic appreciation of the Lord. Our enthusiasm can be expressed in many styles (quiet but genuine; loud but truth-filled). However, ‘with all my heart’ (1) does not leave any room for lukewarmness. The route to warming up our hearts is to ponder the Lord’s works (2), gaining insight by the power of the Holy Spirit to take delight in His righteousness, grace and compassion. We need the Spirit to give us the wisdom to distinguish God at work (1 Cor 2:10–16). Then we can be proper historians, reading history and seeing God’s gracious work in the provision of manna in the wilderness, the conquering of the Promised Land and, prior to that, in God’s giving His people unique laws and redeeming them from Egyptian bondage (5–7). Today, we may revel in their equivalents in the greater work of Christ in the new covenant, which brings better promises to us. It is entirely appropriate that we fear this God who judges our work as our father (See 1 Pet 1:17).