“Oh Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you.”
– Psalm 88:1
Now as a reminder, we are praying each day during this pandemic just for specific needs that people are sending in, so feel free to go to radical.net/prayerrequest and let us know a specific way we can pray for you, knowing that there are likely others who are experiencing similar things. We’re just taking God’s word and applying it to these specific prayer requests.
Let’s pray for those police officers, healthcare workers, government officials, and first responders who are working day and night. When we are weak, You are strong.
Psalm 88:1Prays For Wisdom
So, today I want to read something that James sent in. James is leading a police department in the midst of this pandemic in Virginia. He says, I serve as a leader in a large police department in my state. I’ve been working around the clock with a team of other leaders, ensuring the continuity of the police department with the health, safety, and morale of our officers and the community that we serve as our number one goal. He talks about how the morale in the workforce is challenging to manage as the nature of police officer’s jobs puts them in harm’s way. This is an ever-evolving situation and it’s hard to keep up with. It’s overwhelming in many ways.
James says, I ask you pray for wisdom as we try to make the best decisions, as we communicate well, as we’re working a lot of hours and missing time with family, and don’t want to get our family’s sick if we get sick. And he just mentions government officials, health department staff, police and fire officials who are all working hard to serve the community but can only do it with help from God. So, that came to my mind when I read Psalm 88:1, oh Lord God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. You just think about James and other police officers who are working all throughout the night and all throughout the day long shifts. And similarly other government officials and health department officials who are doing this work day and night, day and night.
We Cannot Do Our Work Without God’s Help
We’ve prayed already for nurses and doctors who are working day and night. Any time you are listening to this podcast, the likelihood is there are many people who are really tired right now who have been working for long hours who need help. And this is the beauty of Psalm 88:1 just from the very beginning the Psalmist is saying, anytime of day, anytime of night, I can call to you and you are my help. That’s what I love about what James wrote. He said, we cannot do our work well without help from God. It’s true.
And he says, may this be an opportunity for many people to come to faith in Jesus and then see their need for God’s help. He talks about please pray for our families while we’re working long days. So I want us to pray specifically knowing that whoever’s listening to this right now, especially if you’re in a work situation like James in a police department, working fire rescue, working in a health department and you’re working long hours right now. I just want to pray God for James and others like him who are working day and night to serve and to help others, that they would see you at every moment as a source of help, a source of strength, as a source of peace, as a source of protection, as their ultimate source for all these things.
Psalm 88:1 Prays For Police Officers During The Pandemic
Oh God I pray for James. I pray that as he cries out day and night before you that he would know you hear him and you help him. God, we pray for other police officers like him. We pray for other fire and rescue workers like him. We pray for government officials. Pray for all kinds of public servants who are working day and night during this pandemic. God, please cause them to look to you and cry out to you and know that you are their help in every way they need.
God we praise you that when we are weak, you are strong. When we need wisdom, you give wisdom. When we don’t know what to do, you are always wise. You always know what is best. So God, please draw James and others like him and their families into deeper trust in you, deeper dependence on you and show yourself strong on their behalf as they do so much work during these days for so many people. We praise you oh God of our salvation, that we can cry out day and night before you and know that you hear us through what Jesus has done on the cross for us. We praise you for being our ever present help, day and night in whatever need we have. 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.
