A Prayer

from the 23rd Psalm

A while back I had the chance to drop in on the Men’s Prayer Breakfast being held at Grandview Baptist Church in Muskogee, Oklahoma where Jay McAlister serves as pastor. That particular morning Jay was talking to the men about praying the Scriptures as a way to enliven and revive their personal prayer lives. I had learned this concept myself years earlier, but Jay’s teaching helped stir up a new appreciation for this practice in my own life.

Today I want to share a prayer of George Matheson that demonstrates and illustrates the idea of praying the Scriptures. The prayer is obviously based on Psalm 23. He restates and prays it in a way that makes it personal and applicable to his life when he prayed it. I hope you can adapt it for yourself also:

Restore my soul, O God. There are green pastures around me for which my eye has no lens; there are quiet waters beside me for which my ear has not chord; restore my soul. The path on which I go is already the path of your righteousness; open my eyes, that I may behold its windows. The place I call dreadful is even now the house of the Lord; the heavens shall cease to hide you when you have restored my soul. May I be content to know that your goodness and mercy shall follow me without waiting to see them in advance of me.

Amen.

Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash