Psalms 7: Here is a prayer for justice and vindication.
The world is not fair. The world is not right. There are things loose in the world that are not right. If God is judge, then God alone is wise enough to discern and deal with those things.
The question is not what I think is right, but rather, what God thinks is right.
And notice David’s invitation to be judged himself by God. He doesn’t want to hide from God. Rather, he welcomes that red-hot divine stare that peels away his pretenses and lies.
What if we did that in our worship? What if we invited God to set things right, not just in the world, but in ourselves?
The final stanza sketches a vivid picture of God as a mighty warrior, loaded with weapons to do battle against the wicked. Yet notice that as the poem continues, God doesn’t use his weapons. The plan of the wicked self-destructs to their own end.
In my prayer and in my worship can I give up my need to make the world right? Can I relinquish my need to control and judge and leave that to the Perfect Judge?
Psalms 8: Here is a prayer of awe and wonder.
There are things in the world that make our jaws drop with a Whoa. Sunsets. The Grand Canyon. An athletic performance. That sense of I’ve never seen that before or That will never happen again and I was there to see it.
It’s that feeling that David brings to God as he considers the care and attention of humanity within the context of all creation.
If the words of this psalm are true, then I am not the center of the universe. Pride and entitlement crumble when you consider the just how small people are in the universe.
When we pray, how honest are we about the size of God and the size of ourselves?
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