April 13, 2020 -- Psalm 119:149 -- Inspired Prayer

Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;

O LORD, according to your justice give me life.

Psalm 119:149 English Standard Version

Why does the Mighty One of heaven and earth hear us? It is not based on whether or not we are sincere. It is not based on our holiness or lack thereof. The LORD of All Glory listens to His people because of His steadfast love. His love for us never ends. He acts first. He approaches us even though He knows the full weight of our sinfulness and our waywardness—in fact, He knows unless His steadfast love restrained our wandering feet we would never return to Him.

God the Father hears us because of His justice. He does not ignore sin. We have just celebrated Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead and His rising to newness of life. Good Friday celebrations acknowledge that Jesus’ body and soul bore the full weight of God’s rightful anger against sin. Our was punished. Jesus took on all our sin, He became sin for us, so that sin would be punished.

Therefore God is just in loving those who love Jesus and who demonstrate such love by obeying Jesus. All who believe in Jesus rise with Him from death to life. Our old sinful lusts and passions become distasteful to us. All who believe in Jesus find in Him a joy that theretofore had been absent in their lives. All who believe in Jesus have their sins utterly and completely forgiven. This is the justice of God that gives us life.

It is the Spirit of God Who makes such things known to us. We read the Bible and it seems like just so many words until the Spirit of God makes its truth white-hot and precious in its relevance to us. The Spirit of God restrains us from wandering away from God. The Spirit of God lifts our voice so that our cry goes out to the throne of the Living God Who can help and is willing to help and is able to help.

Holy God thank You for Your persistent love that would not let us go! Thank You Triune God, Blessed and Glorious beyond all imagination, for the new life You have poured out on us in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord. Let the wondrous truth of the Bible soak into the deepest parts of our mind and heart and will. In these days of being quarantined Faithful Father whet our appetite for greater knowledge of Jesus and our devotion to Him. Spirit Who lives in us, awaken our conscience and fire our imagination with devotion for Jesus as we read the Word. Inspire us to raise our voices in prayer to You, the God Who hears. Amen.