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PRAYER ACKNOWLEDGES DEPENDENCE ON GOD

In every aspect of our human lives – our physical survival, our relationships to each other, our relationship to God – we are dependent on God. This human dependence on God is expressed in the Lord's Prayer in the phrases 'our Father', 'your kingdom come', 'your will be done', 'give us this day', 'forgive us our debts' and 'deliver us from the evil one'.

This brief meditation focuses on selected verses from prayers in the Psalms which express dependence on God’s power to save, protect and deliver.

Psalm 18:2,3: The LORD is ... my deliverer ... the horn of my salvation ... I call to the LORD ... and I am saved from my enemies.

Psalm 18:46-48: Exalted be God my Saviour! He is the God who avenges me ... who saves me from my enemies.

Psalm 19:14: ... O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 25:5,20,21: ... you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long ... Guard my life and rescue me; ... for I take refuge in you ... my hope is in you.

Psalm 27:1,5,9: The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? ... he will keep me safe in his dwelling, he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle ... Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Saviour.

Psalm 28:8: The LORD is ... a fortress of salvation for his anointed one ...

Psalm 32:7: You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Psalm 35:3: Say to my soul 'I am your salvation'.

Psalm 38:22: Come quickly to help me, O LORD my Saviour.

Psalm 62:1,2: My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him, He alone is my rock and my salvation ...

Psalm 65:5: ... O God our Saviour, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas ...

Psalm 68:19,20: Praise be to the LORD, to God our Saviour, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.

Psalm 70:5: I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer ...

Psalm 79:9: Help us, O God our Saviour, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.

Psalm 88:1: O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before you.

Psalm 118:14,21: The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation ... I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.

Psalm 130:7: ... with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins

Psalm 144:2: He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield in whom I take refuge.

The more we understand our intrinsic human weakness and vulnerability, and the more we understand the power, the authority and the redemptive love of God, the more our prayers will reflect the dependence on God expressed in the Psalms.

© Rosemary Bardsley 2017