Daily Devotion for July 10, 2010
Prayers
Scripture
Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Prayer of Thanks for God's Creation
O Lord God of Israel and God of the nations, you are the only God in heaven above or the earth below. I walk before you with all my heart. I bless your name in the morning when I rise and in the evening when I sleep, and all the day when your creation fills my eye. Bless me to remember you this day; when I see and hear the thousand miracles of your creation, let me see them anew, recalling that you have made them, and no other; that I may live in your presence among the common miracles I take for granted. Through Christ I pray,
Prayer for Freedom from Fear
O Lord, I beseech you to deliver me, and all of your children, from the fear of the unknown future; from fear of failure; from fear of poverty; from fear of bereavement; from fear of loneliness; from fear of sickness and pain; from fear of age; from fear of death. Help us, O Father, by your grace to love and fear only you, and fill our hearts with cheerful courage and loving trust in you; through our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.
Prayer for Unknown Needs
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Benediction
Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, let me think about these things. What I have learned and received, let me do; and the God of peace be with us all.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
Jesus said to Judas (not Iscariot), "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." (John 14:23-24)
Psalm 90:1-12
Teach Us to Number Our Days
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
You turn man to destruction; and say, Return, ye children of men.
For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
You carry them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which grows up.
In the morning it flourishes, and grows up; in the evening it is cut down, and withers.
For we are consumed by your anger, and by your wrath are we troubled.
You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
For all our days are passed away in your wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Who knows the power of your anger? even according to your fearsomeness, so is your wrath.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
Notes on the Scripture
This magnificent psalm treats a theme that is seen many times in the Bible: Life is transitory, just a brief moment in the vastness of eternity. Here, the psalmist (it is attributed to Moses) adds an Old Testament twist, showing that we live our lives in constant peril of God's anger.
This is a very Christian theme, the idea that our lives of all men are tainted by inevitable sinfulness. Although the psalm stops short of declaring an eternal life after death, to be lived in harmony with God, there is a strong implication of just such an idea.
