Have you ever considered how your prayers may reflect how you regard your relationship to God? Some prayers shoot off bullets in staccato tempo, launching orders to a god who does our bidding. Others confide secrets and plans as to a close friend, seeking to enlist the confidant into our schemes. Others ascend timidly, proffered cautiously (or not at all) in fear to an angry deity. Perhaps your prayer, like one of Jacob's about which I wrote here long ago, approaches God in a transactional way - you will do something for God if he does something for you.
The prayer found in Psalm 119:121-128 adopts a different posture, that of a servant. Three times the prayer refers to the one speaking (or writing) it as "your servant." Like other prayers in this psalm, the prayer also focuses on God's instructions, laws, or statutes. But love also informs this prayer:
"Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold, and because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path" (Psalm 119:127-128).
The worshiper who prays those words also has confidence that God will respond with love to the prayer. While, as throughout the entirety, he emphasizes his devotion to obeying God's commands, he also expresses his faith in God's ability to keep his promises. He prays,
"I have done what is righteous and just; do not leave me to my oppressors. Ensure your servant's well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me. My eyes fail, looking for your salvation, looking for your righteous promise. Deal with your servant according to your love and teach me your decrees" (Psalm 119:121-124).
The psalmist is God's servant. He obeys God. He trusts God. He wants to learn God's commands. He wants to understand them well. As he continues to pray, he identifies himself once again as God's servant and advocates for God to take action. He laments that others violate God's law. He says,
"I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes. It is time for you to act, LORD; your law is being broken" (Psalm 119:125-126).
He prays as an obedient servant. But as he prays and calls for God to take action, he also expresses his fears and his needs. He calls out to God for rescue. He states his love for God's commands and asks to be treated "according to [God's] love." The prophet Isaiah wrote about Israel as God's suffering servant, passages that Christians from the beginning have seen as fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus himself told his disciples,
"Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all" (Mark 9:35b).
When Jesus taught about prayer, he advocated an approach to prayer that is very much like the prayer of a servant - prayer offered with humility and accompanied by obedience. Jesus also demonstrated how to infuse obedience with love and how to love the unlovely. As disciples of Jesus, let us pray as the Psalmist prayed that God will arise and exact justice, but pray also that God will grant us enough discernment that we will turn away from arrogance and instead live humbly, faithfully, and lovingly.
- Quotes from the Bible are from the New International Version.
God of love, we shudder when we witness arrogant lies and cruelty. We squirm when we realize our own complicity with those who act in such ways. We join the psalmist in praying for discernment that we too may hate and avoid immoral or unjust courses of action. We pray that you will act for our well-being. May we truly be your servants and your people. Thank you for your love and forgiveness. Give us the compassion to treat others as you have treated us. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen.
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