Rutashubanyuma
JF-Expert Member
- Sep 24, 2010
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- #2,461
Psalm 72:1-20
Providence and prayer
Your prayers make a difference. Not only do they affect your own life but they can also affect the course of history.
How providence and prayer work together is a mystery. In some extraordinary way, your prayers affect the outcome of events. God is sovereign and works out his purposes through history. Yet he involves you in this process.
This psalm is David’s prayer for his son and successor, King Solomon. It was a strong reminder of his high calling. Yet it goes beyond what is humanly attainable. For example, ‘He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations’ (v.5). His reign is eternal and universal (v.8). Ultimately, it was only fulfilled in the Messiah, God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
This psalm is a prayer for blessing on the king and through him that all the people will be blessed with ‘prosperity’ (v.3). The good leader will be concerned about poverty and justice: ‘Please stand up for the poor, help the children of the needy, come down hard on the cruel tyrants’ (v.4, MSG). It is also a prayer that in his foreign policy ‘all nations will be blessed through him’ (v.17).
David says, ‘May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long’ (v.15b). It is clear that God’s blessing on the leader will come as people pray for him. How this works we do not know. However, it shows that praying really does make a difference. In his providence, God takes your prayers and uses them to bring blessing.
Lord, thank you that prayer makes a difference. I pray for our leaders whom you have set over us. Give them grace and wisdom. Enrich their lives that they may be a source of strength and inspiration, and promote your honour and glory.
Providence and prayer
Your prayers make a difference. Not only do they affect your own life but they can also affect the course of history.
How providence and prayer work together is a mystery. In some extraordinary way, your prayers affect the outcome of events. God is sovereign and works out his purposes through history. Yet he involves you in this process.
This psalm is David’s prayer for his son and successor, King Solomon. It was a strong reminder of his high calling. Yet it goes beyond what is humanly attainable. For example, ‘He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations’ (v.5). His reign is eternal and universal (v.8). Ultimately, it was only fulfilled in the Messiah, God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
This psalm is a prayer for blessing on the king and through him that all the people will be blessed with ‘prosperity’ (v.3). The good leader will be concerned about poverty and justice: ‘Please stand up for the poor, help the children of the needy, come down hard on the cruel tyrants’ (v.4, MSG). It is also a prayer that in his foreign policy ‘all nations will be blessed through him’ (v.17).
David says, ‘May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long’ (v.15b). It is clear that God’s blessing on the leader will come as people pray for him. How this works we do not know. However, it shows that praying really does make a difference. In his providence, God takes your prayers and uses them to bring blessing.
Lord, thank you that prayer makes a difference. I pray for our leaders whom you have set over us. Give them grace and wisdom. Enrich their lives that they may be a source of strength and inspiration, and promote your honour and glory.