Rivers of Tears

Rivers of tears gush from my eyes
    because people disobey your instructions.

—Psalm 119:136 (NLT)

Ever Loving LORD,

May my heart break—along with Yours—and may my tears gush over the disobedience of Your people!

I confess that my heart has not been truly broken and far too few of my tears have been shed over the choices that Your own people have made to disobey, dishonor, and disregard Your instructions.

Instead of being broken, my heart has been self-righteously critical and judging of others when I witness the mess that they have made of their lives by the choices that they have made—thinking in my heart that they have gotten what they deserve.

Then I am reminded that I, too, have broken Your heart through my own disobedience and am deserving of much worse than I have received—and yet, You have loved me back to Yourself, time and time again.

Help my heart to break over sin—both mine own and the sins of others—and show me how to love others in the same way You have shown Your love to me. 

Grant me the humility of heart to love them as You would have me love them—to love them enough to love them back to You!

May my heart break—along with Yours—and may my tears gush over the disobedience of Your people!

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

I Wait Confidently For God

As for me, I look to the LORD for help.
    I wait confidently for God to save me,
    and my God will certainly hear me.

—Micah 7:7 (NLT)

God of My Salvation,

Help me to remember that You are my source of help—that all my help surely comes from You!

Help me look to You and wait—in quietness of spirit and in confidence of heart—for You to save me from whatever circumstance or situation in which I find myself.

And help me to see Your hand working to accomplish Your plans and purposes for me along every path that You lead me down—as You teach me more about Your ways and show me Your salvation.

May I always cry out to You in faith—trusting that You will hear me. For You know my thoughts, even before I put them into words and are ever eager to answer the cries of my heart.

Help me to remember that You are my source of help—that all my help surely comes from You!

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

The Greater Things That Will Define My Future

“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.”

—Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)

Almighty God,

Help me not to dwell so much on the past—even on those great and wondrous miracles that have marked my life thus far—that I end up missing out on the new things—those even far greater things—which will define my future with You.

Teach me to see—to stop, and look, and perceive Your will for me—as You work in me, through me and all around me, in new and fresh ways to bring glory to Yourself!

Make me open to receive all that this ever-changing gift of life You have given me has to offer—as You unfold before me the newness of the perfect path that You have for me to walk.

Grant me the faith to believe that You are able—and You certainly will—make a road for me in the wilderness and cause life-giving rivers to flow in any desert that lies before me, both now and forevermore.

Help me not to dwell so much on the past—even on those great and wondrous miracles that have marked my life thus far—that I end up missing out on the new things—those even far greater things—which will define my future with You.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.