Pray Always

Psalm 42: 8  (NIV)

By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life.

The NIV Study Bible refers to Psalm 42 as a prayer for deliverance from being “oppressed by the enemy” and for restoration to the presence of God.  Even though described as a prayer, this Psalm was originally written as a song.  If you read Psalm 42, it is likely the verses will sound familiar to you because there are many hymns and contemporary Christian songs that quote these same verses, which is appropriate because we experience the same emotions.

At one time or another, all of us will feel that we have been oppressed by our enemies and if you find yourself in this struggle, I encourage you to turn to this Psalm and find comfort.  The scripture comes alive for me when I hear the phrases, “my soul pants for you, O God,” “my soul thirsts…for the living God,” and “…I pour out my soul.”  The turning point of the scripture is verse 8 as it becomes a confession of hope as God sends forth his love.  And for me, as I write these words, I am most comforted by the next phrase that says, “at night His song is with me.” 

I recently heard a pastor speak to the importance of learning hymns and Christian songs because when we find ourselves in a struggle, the songs will direct our hearts back to God.  Just last night I found myself in a struggle due to a fractured relationship with someone I love and it tormented me for much of the night.  This morning, I listened to a friend’s voice as he shared his devotion titled, It is well with my Soul, also the title of one of my favorite songs.  As soon as I saw the title, the words of the song flooded back to me, and I found relief from my struggle and a reconnection to God the source of my strength and hope.

I invite you to join me in this prayer: Father, God, when it seems that darkness surrounds me, flood my thoughts with the hymns and songs that draw me closer to you.  Amen

This devotion was written and recorded by Owen Ragland.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.