SEEK DEVOTIONAL

On Day 8, we laid the foundation for the power and majesty found in God’s voice. Today, we take it a step further.

If we had the opportunity to watch David writing this Psalm, I don’t think it would be a quiet moment of a man sipping tea and pondering deeper things in life. In the opening verses, he is lifting up a desperate cry, and the language indicates that he is shouting his prayer. It culminates in verse 7:

Answer me quickly, O Lord!
My spirit fails!
Hide not Your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.

There is a verse in Psalm 28 that is almost identical:

To You I cry, O Lord my Rock;
do not be silent to me,
lest, if You are silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.

This is strong language. In these passages, David equates not hearing from the Lord(God’s silence) with the fate of those who go down to the pit. This prayer is not venting; it is dependence. Phrases like “In Your faithfulness answer me, in Your righteousness!” and David’s recollection of how God has moved in his life reveal a fierce, zealous dependence on the Lord and on His character.

David is practicing the spiritual discipline of asking.

Jesus is the One who fully unveils the beauty of this discipline:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

What is even more astounding is that Jesus Himself embodies this life of passionate prayer, as Hebrews shows us:

While Jesus was here on earth, He offered prayers and pleadings, with loud cries and tears, to the One who could rescue Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of His deep reverence.

Many of us miss out on hearing the Lord or experiencing answers to our prayers simply because we are not asking. We are not engaging our faith. We say, “I should really pray about this,” but it remains an idea rather than an action.

Our faith is not merely a conceptual ideology; it is a real relationship with God.

Of course, there is the truth of “asking amiss,” which James 4 teaches us how pride and self-centeredness can hinder our prayers. But even James goes on to exhort believers to pray with humility and boldness, trusting in a God who hears and answers:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.

Being a dad has helped shape the way I relate to our Heavenly Father. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t want to communicate my love to my kids, and there isn’t a moment when, if they ask for help, I don’t want to support them or teach them. I am human and finite; the Father is infinite in His love and faithfulness.

I believe that every day you are on this earth, the Lord desires to make His love known to you and to lead you by His faithfulness. Sometimes we need to apply our faith, maybe even with a shout, and lift our requests to the One who is faithful to hear.

I am thankful Psalm 143 exists to remind me that I can courageously ask of the Lord.

Almost every day, I begin by praying Psalm 143:8–10. That will be our prayer for today. Then, take some time to boldly make your own requests known to the Lord.

Prayer:
Father, cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
For in You do I trust;
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to You.
Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies;
In You I take shelter.
Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Your Spirit is good.
Lead me in the land of uprightness.