“Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.”
– Psalm 119:77
Psalm 119:77, what a great verse. Did you hear that first phrase? “Let your mercy come to me, that I may live”. What a reminder to us in this Psalm that God’s mercy is the only means by which we can live. When we wake up in the morning, our breath is evidence of His mercy. The food we have on our tables is evidence of His mercy. The water we drink is evidence of His mercy. We are surrounded by so much evidence of mercy that enables us to live. Especially in this pandemic, as we see just news headlines, every day of sickness and death, to be reminded that it’s God’s mercy alone that gives any one of us life.
So as we are praying for each other specifically, and I encourage you to continue sending in prayer requests to radical.net/prayerrequest. Just specific ways we can pray for you and your family, your community, your church, during these days of pandemic.
An Update on Hayden, A Prayer Request Mentioned Earlier This Week
I want to give you an update actually on something, someone we prayed for earlier this week. So we prayed for Hayden earlier this week, someone who was diagnosed with COVID and then had a massive stroke and basically has been unresponsive, totally unresponsive. Doctors actually said it was not just a stroke but a heart attack. And his wife, Nicole, and their 10 children have just been asking people to pray.
And I heard an update just today that said, and this is straight from Hayden’s wife, Nicole, but he is reacting, which is huge. Reacting to tubes in his throat, and then he was able to squeeze the nurse’s hand with both of his hands, wiggles his toes, with his eyes open, follow the nurse around the bed to both sides, looking at the nurse, all on command. This is incredible improvement from where things were a couple of days ago. And Hayden’s wife, Nicole, just not even able to be in the hospital with him, just receiving these updates.
Psalm 119:77 Reminds Us of God’s Mercy in Our Lives
But what a reminder, Psalm 119:77 that any evidence of life in us is evidence of mercy from God to us. And so, as we pray for these different needs, we don’t have an opportunity always to come back and hear updates. Obviously, there’s still a long way to go for Hayden, but I just wanted to share that with us, as we’re reminded of God’s mercy that enables us to live. And for us to continue to press in and pray for Hayden, for others like Hayden who are struggling with COVID during these days. And at the same time, for all of us to be reminded that it’s God’s mercy that gives us life.
So God, we pray, Psalm 119:77, let your mercy come to us that we may live. God, may your mercy come to Hayden so that he may live. God, we pray for him, we pray for continued healing. We praise you, God, for answering our prayers over these last few days. God, thank you for answering our cries, for granting mercy. We pray for more and more and more. We pray for new mercies all throughout today, tomorrow. God, please, and we continue to pray for your mercies, for Nicole and for their 10 children.
Prayer For Mercy
God, please, may your mercy come to them that they may live, that they may see your grace, your glory, know your presence, your power, your love during these days. God, we pray this on behalf of all kinds of people who are sick and hurting in hospitals alone right now. And God, please may your mercy come to them that they may live. That they may live. And even as most of us are listening to this not in a hospital, God, we praise you for your mercy that gives us life today. We look to you for our every breath, and we praise you for your mercy that gives us life.
Not only physically but, God, in even greater ways in the gospel. Jesus, we praise you for dying on the cross for our sins, for rising from the dead, for giving us mercy in salvation that we may live, live forever. No matter what virus may come our way, no matter when we may find ourselves in a hospital room, no matter what we may face in this life, to know that we will live forever based on your mercy. So we pray, let your mercy come to us, that we may live. 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.
