Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 143: A Prayer for the Lord’s Guidance—Psalm 143 teaches us how the Lord guides, comforts, and directs our lives. By His Word He teaches us to know how weak and frail we are because of sin. No one living is righteous before God. We are all sinners, and the devil especially persecutes our soul by reminding us of our past failings. The evil one’s desire is to crush our lives and lead us into despair. But the Lord guides, comforts, and directs us by not entering into judgment against us. Christ has taken away the condemnation we deserve. By His Word we remember the days of old, we meditate upon all God’s works, we ponder the work of God’s hands, and according to His promises we open our hands to receive the help that our soul needs to survive the attacks of the evil one. When our spirit fails, the Lord does not hide His face from us, but causes us to hear His loving-kindness in the morning. By His Word He causes us to know the way in which we should walk and vanquishes every enemy that is set against us. “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness…For I am Your servant.”

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 142: A Prayer for Relief from Persecutors—When we, as Christians, feel as if we are all alone, the Lord is with us. He who endured every form of persecution and testing for us, stands with us when our faith is assaulted by an entire world that is hostile to the Gospel. Psalm 142 is a fervent prayer for relief: “I cry out to the Lord…I pour out my complaint…I declare before Him my trouble…” The Lord wants us to lean upon Him. He knows everything we are facing and He knows what the future holds: “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path.” All other helpers fail us. Only the Lord stands with us. “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living…Deliver me from my persecutors.” Our enemies and persecutors may be stronger than we, but they are not stronger than the Lord Jesus who has trampled sin, Satan, and death under His feet. Because we belong to Him, we are safe and the Lord shall deal bountifully with us for our good and the preservation of our faith.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 142: A Prayer for Relief from Persecutors—When we, as Christians, feel as if we are all alone, the Lord is with us. He who endured every form of persecution and testing for us, stands with us when our faith is assaulted by an entire world that is hostile to the Gospel. Psalm 142 is a fervent prayer for relief: “I cry out to the Lord…I pour out my complaint…I declare before Him my trouble…” The Lord wants us to lean upon Him. He knows everything we are facing and He knows what the future holds: “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path.” All other helpers fail us. Only the Lord stands with us. “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living…Deliver me from my persecutors.” Our enemies and persecutors may be stronger than we, but they are not stronger than the Lord Jesus who has trampled sin, Satan, and death under His feet. Because we belong to Him, we are safe and the Lord shall deal bountifully with us for our good and the preservation of our faith.

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 141: An Evening Prayer—Psalm 141 is an evening prayer in which we cry out to the Lord to guard our lips from speaking falsehood or harmful words, and in which we ask Him to deliver our hearts from the practice of evil. Our prayer is like ascending incense when it is offered out of faith in God’s merciful protection in Christ alone. We pray that the Lord would defend us from lying words and overthrow the plots of those who are set against us. If we take matters into our own hands, we will surely fail. But reliance upon the Lord alone carries with it the promise of His absolute protection from our enemies and deliverance from every evil that is set against us. There are many traps and snares laid out for us by the wicked, but the Lord delivers those whose eyes are fixed upon Him. He alone is our refuge and deliverer from all evil.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 140: A Prayer for Deliverance from Evil—Psalm 140 reminds us of the Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Deliver us from evil.” When David prayed this psalm, he recognized that behind evil and wicked men was the father of evil, Satan himself. Evil comes at us on every side to try to destroy both our lives and our faith. David teaches us that the Lord God alone is our defense against evil. He will defend us. He will protect us. He will give us the victory by sustaining our faith in Christ and by preserving us in His good and gracious will. The Lord will also execute judgment against those who have rejected God’s Word and who persecute the faith of Christians. He will establish His truth so that the lies of the wicked do not prevail. David concludes his prayer in confidence: “I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted…Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name.”

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 139: A Prayer of Comfort from the Lord’s Abiding Presence—There is no place we can travel where the Lord is not present for the help, comfort, and salvation of His people who believe in Him. He searches our hearts. He knows everything about us. He is acquainted with all our ways. He knows every word we speak before we utter it. We cannot hide from His presence. We cannot fully grasp the wonder of His omniscience. He orders the affairs of our life, so that we are drawn to Him to seek His help in repentant faith. He has made each of us individually in our mother’s womb. He knew us before we were born. Our days are ordered in His book. His thoughts toward each of us are precious and more than we can number. We ask Him to make His will our own and to lead us each day in humble contrition and repentance, and in prayer to seek His guidance. If there is any wicked way in us, we pray that He would turn us to the good and to the way of everlasting life.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 139: A Prayer of Comfort from the Lord’s Abiding Presence—There is no place we can travel where the Lord is not present for the help, comfort, and salvation of His people who believe in Him. He searches our hearts. He knows everything about us. He is acquainted with all our ways. He knows every word we speak before we utter it. We cannot hide from His presence. We cannot fully grasp the wonder of His omniscience. He orders the affairs of our life, so that we are drawn to Him to seek His help in repentant faith. He has made each of us individually in our mother’s womb. He knew us before we were born. Our days are ordered in His book. His thoughts toward each of us are precious and more than we can number. We ask Him to make His will our own and to lead us each day in humble contrition and repentance, and in prayer to seek His guidance. If there is any wicked way in us, we pray that He would turn us to the good and to the way of everlasting life.

CP211219Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 138: To Praise God with One’s Whole Heart—Psalm 138 confesses the Lord’s goodness and lovingkindness as the source of joy, comfort, and life for the Christian. When David prays, “I will praise You with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing praises to You,” he confesses that there is only one God, the God of mercy and salvation in Jesus Christ, our Savior. We worship Him who gave His life for us upon the cross. In the day of trouble, the Lord will hear. One day, all the kings of the earth will confess that He is God and Lord! Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly. It is why we love Him. In the lowliness of our sinful, human condition, He looks upon us in mercy and revives our soul with His grace, turning away the wrath of those who would rise against us. When the psalmist declares, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever,” he reflects what the Apostle Paul would later declare, “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 137: A Prayer as Captives in a Foreign Land—Psalm 137 is a lament of the children of Judah whose holy city and Temple were destroyed by the Babylonians because of Judah’s rebellion against the Lord. Psalm 137 captures the sadness of the children of Judah who had lost their kingdom and had been carried away captive. Yet in spite of this lament, they came to believe, in contrition and faith, that the Lord would return them to the land of promise according to His Word. This is our hope as well, even as we lament over mistakes and backslidings in our own lives. “How long will we sing the Lord’s son in a foreign land?” In our prayers we cry out to God to return us to His Word and to keep us faithful to our Lord as we await His return for us in glory. He will remember us during our earthly pilgrimage. He will take vengeance upon the enemies of the Gospel. He will vindicate His people for their confession of faith in Christ.

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Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 136: The Lord’s Mercy Endures Forever—The most often repeated antiphon throughout the psalter is “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” This antiphon captures the heart of the Gospel and punctuates every verse of psalm 136. Our Savior is the God of gods and the Lord of lords because He is merciful. Mercy is not only at the heart of God’s nature, but it is also the source of that which sustains and saves the world. The mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ in His suffering and death upon the cross is the source and cause of every blessing we enjoy. In other words, if Jesus had not suffered and died in mercy to save us from our sins, no one would receive the gifts of daily bread or enjoy any of God’s blessings. Psalm 136 traces this mercy from every act of God’s creation and sustaining of the universe to every act of His salvation for Israel. The psalm concludes by underscoring how the mercy of God for Israel’s salvation is also the mercy of God that is at work in the Gospel of Christ: “[He] remembered us in our lowly state…and rescued us from our enemies…Who gives food to all flesh, for His mercy endures forever.”  CP211205