Great Plains Daily Devotional for 10/9/2018

Psalm 55:1-15 

Give ear to my prayer, O God;
    do not hide yourself from my supplication.
Attend to me, and answer me;
    I am troubled in my complaint.
I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,
    because of the clamor of the wicked.
For they bring trouble upon me,
    and in anger they cherish enmity against me.

My heart is in anguish within me,
    the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
Fear and trembling come upon me,
    and horror overwhelms me.
And I say, “O that I had wings like a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest;
truly, I would flee far away;
    I would lodge in the wilderness;Selah
I would hurry to find a shelter for myself
    from the raging wind and tempest.”

Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech;
    for I see violence and strife in the city.
Day and night they go around it
    on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
    ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
    do not depart from its marketplace.

It is not enemies who taunt me—
    I could bear that;
it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me—
    I could hide from them.
But it is you, my equal,
    my companion, my familiar friend,
with whom I kept pleasant company;
    we walked in the house of God with the throng.
Let death come upon them;
    let them go down alive to Sheol;
    for evil is in their homes and in their hearts.

Psalm 55: 1-2, 23a Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught, …But as for me, I trust you.

The opening verses of this Psalm reach off of the page and encourage me to underline them. This week, in Prayer on the Plains, the prayer practice was praying Scripture, specifically praying the Psalms and using psalms to become words of our own.

For me prayer changes our hearts and gives words to the utterances of our soul.  The Psalms can give words to something I have yet to name.

I remember the first time I prayed out loud, often a time when the words may escape my brain. The leader called upon me in a group of 30 people and said, “You lead us in prayer tonight.” I responded with, “I would if I knew how.” The leader said, “Talk to God as you would a friend.” My first prayer out loud was “God, all these people are looking at me, so help us as we want to follow you. Amen.” I think that prayer means as much to God as the prayers I spend time writing out and preparing to say. 

In today’s prayer in the Psalms, the psalmist is wrestling, struggling and wishing to be a dove and fly away.  We serve a God who listens, who walks with us and hears the cries of our hearts. Be encouraged today as we worship a God who listens as we speak to God as a friend, and as we affirm our faith that no matter what we will trust in God.

Lord, listen to our prayers, O God, do not ignore pleas; hear us and answer us. Our thoughts may trouble us but as for us, we will trust in you. Amen. 

                                                                                                                                                                           Rev. Nicole Conard
                                                                                                                                                                    Young Adults & Campus Ministry                                                                                                                                                                                           Coordinator