“With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord. I will praise him in the midst of the throng for He stands at the right hand of the needy one.”
– Psalm 109:30–31
When I think about the Psalm 109:30–31 and its whole context, it’s actually a Psalmist reaction kind of lament to being accused and derided by many people and the Psalmist feels alone in the middle of that. And as I’ve been reading through all of these prayer requests from people who’ve sent things in for themselves for others in light of this pandemic, and I encourage you to continue to send those prayer requests in radical.net/prayerrequests just so we can take time each day to pray for each other, specifically in ways that represent a lot of people during this time.
Giving Thanks to God During Hard Seasons
“With my mouth, I will give great thanks to the Lord; I will praise him in the midst of the throng. For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.”
But I was reading what Melissa wrote. She said, “I have a friend, Angela, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer during this pandemic. She found out alone. She’s had 10 biopsies alone. She cannot get hugs from her friends and extended family, just two small sons.” As I read this from Melissa, I immediately thought about all the unique challenges we’re all facing when it comes to isolation, not being around other people.
Even just the awkwardness when I am having conversations with people out in my neighborhood or whenever I do see someone else and I’m so far away from them, just nowhere close to them, certainly not able to touch, to give someone else a hug or even a simple handshake. So then to think about the unique challenges that come with walking through a breast cancer diagnosis and all that that entails, and other things that other people are walking through on top of the isolation that’s already there.
Psalm 109:30–31 Thanks God for Giving Us Strength in Weakness
And yes, the unique challenges that go with that. And then I read Psalm chapter 109, verse 30. “With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord. I will praise him in the midst of the throng for He stands at the right hand of the needy one.” So I just want to pray this over Angela and others like Angela who are going through physical challenges right now or emotional challenges. And this isolation just on top of that is really, really, really hard.
So, God, I pray right now for Angela. We pray together for her as she walks through this breast cancer diagnosis. God, we pray more than anything that she would know. Psalm 109:31, that you stand at the right hand of the needy one, that you are with her, that she is not alone, that your presence, your power, your strength, your joy, your peace, your life or hers, through what you’ve done on the cross for us, Jesus, through your resurrection from the dead to the privilege we have of access to you, to relationship with you.
The Surrounding Presence of God
God, I pray that Angela would know we prayed together for Angela that she would know the sufficiency of your presence during these days and all the more so when the means of grace that you’ve given in other people to come around and give a hug, other people to surround in all kinds of different ways.
And when that is not possible during these days, God, we pray just for an extra measure of grace for Angela and for countless other people like her who are going through really hard times on top of the effects of this pandemic. God, we pray that you would show yourself strong, God, that you would stand at the right hand of all who are in need in such a way that they can look up to you and say, “With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord and I will praise him in the midst of the throng.”
Psalm 109:30–31 Prays for the End of this Pandemic
They will know, even in isolation, that they are a part of a body who loves them. I just think about Melissa writing this and the way Melissa cares for Angela and trust others. God, I pray for your grace. We pray together for your grace, for Angela, for her children, for her extended family and friends who aren’t able to be close physically to know how to best love and care for her. And God help us all to know how to best do that for each other during these days, for our neighbors, for those in our churches, for those in our communities, help us to be the best expression of your love in light of the limitations that are around us.
God, we continue to pray that you would bring an end to this pandemic. God, we pray that you’d have mercy when it comes to researchers and doctors and nurses and government leaders as we walk through these days. And God, we pray that we would look back in the days to come on what you have done during these days and say, “We give thanks to you. We praise you in the midst of the throng for when we were needy, you stood at our right hand.” In Jesus’ name we pray. 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.
