Calling Upon God for Grace (Psalm 86:5)

“For you oh Lord are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.”
– Psalm 86:5

Just as a reminder, we are praying each day during this global pandemic for specific needs that people have sent in. And I want to invite you, we’ve already received a lot coming in, but radical.net/prayerrequests, if there’s something specific we can pray for you, for your family, for your church, your community, we’re just picking one of those things each day and praying the word based on one of those things. So today I want to read what Cleo sent in. Cleo said, “Please pray for my daughter Sheena, who was a nurse in New York, for God’s protection in the midst of this pandemic and also for her salvation, that in the midst of this uncertainty she will come to know Christ in a personal way.”

Lord, we pray for protection for healthcare workers during this pandemic. We ask in these tragic times, that You will cause multitudes to turn to You for salvation.

Struggle During The Pandemic

As we read on the news right now a lot about New York and the number of cases there and the stress on hospitals and hospital workers like Sheena, and so I just want us to apply Psalm 86:5 to that whole picture, and particularly to Sheena as well as many others like Sheena. That she and others would know that the Lord is good and forgiving and abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon Him. This is one of my prayers that I’ve just been burdened with every day during this pandemic, that we would, amidst all of our looking at our phones or on our tablets or wherever we look to find sources of information, and we’re seeing news headlines and updates and we’re always quick to look at those updates and yes, it’s good to be well-informed, but we’re looking to all kinds of sources.

We Should Be Calling Upon God During The Pandemic

The question is, are we looking to the one source who’s able to end this pandemic? Are we looking to God? Are we calling upon God?

And that’s part of what I hope this podcast, and other things that are going on right now, even as I think about the church I pastor and us hosting a prayer gathering every single day at noon on our Facebook page, just to call people to look to God, to call on God. And that’s exactly what Psalm 86 is all about. There’s just so much in this Psalm. Psalm 86:6 says, “Give ear oh Lord of my prayer, listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble, I call upon you, for you answer me.” God answers us when we call upon Him in our trouble. He listens to our pleas for grace. He is good, He is forgiving, He is abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon Him.

Psalm 86:5 Wants Us To Lead People To Call To Him

So let’s pray accordingly, let’s call on His name. And everyone in our lives, and in our families, and in our churches, and in our country, and our countries, let’s call upon Him and pray specifically that God would use these days to lead people to Himself. To lead people to call upon Him, to cry out for grace and to find in Him goodness and forgiveness and steadfast love.

So God, we pray right now for Sheena specifically in New York. God, we do pray with Chloe for Sheena’s protection amidst this pandemic. God, we pray amidst all this she’s doing to serve so many other people, we pray for her strength, we pray for her protection, her health. You’re a help for her and many others like her. God we pray for doctors and nurses specifically across New York right now. We pray that you would grant them all the grace they need and lead them to call upon you.

Psalm 86:5 Prays For People To See God’s Goodness And Peace

God we pray specifically for Sheena that she would know your goodness and your steadfast love in these days, and that you would use these days to draw her to yourself, to look to you, to find a source of steadfast love when everything around her is up in the air. That she would see your love for her in Christ, that you love her so much, that you sent Jesus to pay the price for her sins, that she might be forgiven of all her sins, that she might be reconciled to relationship with you, to know eternal life and eternal joy and eternal peace and eternal strength, all these things that are found in you alone, out of your goodness and forgiveness and your love for her.

So God we pray that you would draw Sheena into a personal relationship with you, to trust in you during these days. And God, we pray for many others like her, there in New York and all around the world. So God, please, please cause people to turn to you. God please, please bring people to know your goodness, your forgiveness, your steadfast love during these days, as we call upon you.

God we pray for Sheena and multitudes of others like her. And we pray for your grace, for your strength, for Cleo and many others like Cleo, who have family members who are struggling during these times in different ways. And God, we just pray for your peace to rain in Cleo’s heart, and the hearts of many others like Cleo. For you, oh Lord, are good and forgiving. Abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. 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 MeCounter CultureSomething Needs to ChangeBefore 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.

LESS THAN 1% OF ALL MONEY GIVEN TO MISSIONS GOES TO UNREACHED PEOPLE AND PLACES.

That means that the people with the most urgent spiritual and physical needs on the planet are receiving the least amount of support. Together we can change that!

Exit mobile version