“Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name.”
– Psalm 97:12
Psalm 97:12 is how the Psalm ends. It just extols God’s greatness as the one who reigns on high and the heaven’s proclaim his righteousness and the peoples of the world see his glory. God is most high over all the earth, exhaulted above all Gods. Then you get to the end and the Psalm says, “Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name.”
There is a joy and a satisfaction that is found in God that nothing in this world can compare with. So, here’s why Psalm 97:12 comes to my mind today as we’re praying for specific people during this pandemic and people are sending in prayer requests. Radical.net/prayerrequest. I am so thankful for what James sent in.
Let’s pray for single brothers and sisters during this time of quarantine. Amid many hours alone, may all these brothers and sisters know that the Lord is with them, for their good and for His glory.
Psalm 97:12 Reminds Us That We Are Never Alone
As most everybody in the United States right now is under some sort of shelter-at-home order, James writes, “Please pray for singles with no family. Now that most people have been sent home from work for a period of weeks, which could last even longer, this means less human interaction.
So, let us pray that single brothers and sisters would know that they are never alone. That each person, single or otherwise, knows in his or her heart that they can talk with our Lord each and every moment. That he is indwelling us, always with us, listening to us and longing to be in constant communion with us. Let us please remind them at all times, they can speak with the sovereign creator of all things and that no person and nothing in all of creation can bring more comfort or satisfaction than our God who loves us with an incomparable love.”
God Can Give Us Joy In The Darkest Of Times
That is so well said, James. He actually keeps going on but I want to pray and I just want to thank James for sending that prayer request in because I know that he represents many. I think of many singles brothers and sisters in the church that I pastor listening to this right now, far beyond the church that I pastor, and I just want to pray Psalm 97:12 over you to lead us all to pray. Psalm 97:12. “Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name.” Just to pray for this kind of joy in a uniquely challenging situation.
So God, we pray, we pray right now for James specifically, for your joy to flood over him, for your presence even right now to overwhelm him that James might feel enveloped by your arms, by your indwelling spirit that he might know he is ultimately not alone.
Psalm 97:12 Prays For Our Single Brothers And Sisters During The Pandemic
God, I pray for so many others like James. I just want to lead us, together, to pray for every single brother or sister who is in a home or in an apartment alone, who is separated from family, from friends. God, we pray that you would flood them right now with your presence, with your joy, with your peace, with a satisfaction, a supernatural, Psalm 97:12 like satisfaction for them that nothing in this world can provide.
God, even as we pray that we know … We know you’ve designed us for community and so we pray. We pray that you would help us. Help us to reach out to single brothers and sisters around us, to be family; physical family, church family, as much as we can during these days knowing that remote connections are ultimately insufficient to do what you have designed us for. But believing, oh God, believing that you are leading us through this. Believing that you are teaching us through this. And believing that you will draw us into deeper intimacy with you through this.
God, I just pray that over every single brother or sister right now that you would work all this together in a Romans 8:28 kind of way for their good. For their joy. That Psalm 97:12 might be the cry from their lips. Rejoice! I am rejoicing in the Lord and giving thanks to his holy name.
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.
