“God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.’ Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!”
– Psalm 82:1–8
So in the last Pray the Word episode, we prayed Psalm 72:1-7, over leaders in our government and for leaders in our government, based on a prayer for the King of God’s people in the Old Testament. Psalm 82:1–8 is what we’re going to pray in this episode, for the next couple of moments, and it’s a picture of God and His rule and His reign and His justice, and asking God to judge and asking God to show His justice in the world. So I want to read Psalm 82:1–8 and then let it lead us directly into praying according to what God, by His Spirit, has inspired in these words that are a prayer for God to assert His rule and reign, to manifest His justice in the world.
May we remember that God is the ruler over all the kings and presidents of this world.
Psalm 82:1–8 Leads Us To Praise God
Oh God, we praise you as the judge of the earth, as the King over all Kings, the Lord over all Lords, the God over all little g, lowercase g gods. You are the sovereign ruler of all and we are so glad you are. We exalt you in a world where princes, kings, queens, dictators, prime ministers, presidents come and go. They rise and they fall, and you remain over them all.
You rule over them all, and so we are asking today for you to do exactly what Jesus taught us to pray for, for Your kingdom to come, for Your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Hallowed be Your name, and all the earth, we pray. Show Your justice, show Your mercy, show Your love, show Your righteousness. In the earth, we pray that You would give justice to the weak, that You would give justice to the fatherless. God, we pray for orphans who don’t have mom and dad. God, we pray for Your justice for them. We pray that You would maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Psalm 82:1–8 Leads Us to Pray for Deliverance
God, we pray for Your provision for the afflicted and the destitute. You would bring it rescue for the weak and rescue for the needy, that You would deliver them from the hand of the wicked. God, we pray that You would do these things. As we pray for this, God, we pray that You would help any and all of us who have any part to play in seeing this prayer answered.
God, to know how you are calling us, each of us individually, us together as Your church, to give justice to the weak and the fatherless, to defend the right of the afflicted and the destitute, to rescue the weak and the needy and deliver them from the hand of the wicked. God, we offer our lives to You, our families to You, our resources to You, and we pray that You would help us to be a reflection of Your justice and Your mercy in this world until Jesus returns.
This Verse Leads Us to Share the Gospel
Fundamentally by proclaiming Jesus becoming King, God, please use us today to share the gospel with somebody else, to introduce them to Jesus, and then God help us to live lives that accord with the gospel, that are worthy of the gospel, that are a reflection of Your love and Your grace and Your truth. Even as we pray Psalm 82:1–8, arise, Oh God, judge the earth. You shall inherit all the nations. Bring about Your justice. We pray with the saints who are before You in heaven as we see in Revelation. How long, Oh Lord, bring about Your justice, we pray. Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Until You come, help us to be a faithful reflection of Your justice and mercy in a world in need around us and a country in need around us. We pray Psalm 82:1–8 in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
