“Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.”
– Psalm 114:7–8
Oh, these two verses are so powerful. At the end of this Psalm, so throughout this Psalm, eight short verses, basically the Psalmist is talking about God’s power over all creation, specifically displayed on behalf of His people, on behalf of the people of Israel in the Old Testament.
God Reigns Over All
But really the picture is on behalf of the people of God who trust in Him. You get to verse 7, and the Bible says, “Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord.” And the whole Psalm basically gives a picture of God’s power over all creation. Over every force we might see in the world, God reigns omnipotent over all forces, all opposition, all nature, everything in creation, God reigns over it all. Tremble over the presence of the Lord, over the presence of the God of Jacob who turns the rock … He can turn a rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water. These are pictures that we see in the Old Testament of God’s power, not just over creation, but power over all creation for the sake of providing for His people.
So, as we think about that reality, I want to read this prayer request. We’re reading just each day a prayer request that someone has sent in, specifically in light of this pandemic and the way it’s affecting people, lives, families, churches. Let me encourage you to continue to send those prayer requests in to radical.net/prayerrequests.
Psalm 114:7–8 Prays for Churches to Overcome Financial Struggles
This one comes from Cleo. Cleo writes, “Please, let’s pray for churches, ministries, pastors, and staff who are struggling financially during this trying time. Praise God for larger churches or ministries, or even some smaller ones that have enough savings or resources, but for some churches and ministries, we don’t know how to survive, even meeting the needs of our respective families in the church or leaders in the church.
So, let’s pray that God will provide for them, that their faith will not be shaken by this storm, that they will stand firm and that great testimonies will come out of this.” So I read this from Cleo, and then I read Psalm 114, about how God moves all creation in power in order to provide for His people, and I don’t think there’s a more appropriate passage to then lead us to pray for what Cleo has reminded us to pray for.
Praying for the Local Church
So God, we pray for your church, your churches, specifically Cleo’s church and every single church right now that is struggling financially, struggling in all kinds of different ways, in light of the unique challenges of the circumstance we’re walking through. But especially even struggling to provide a pastor or that pastor’s family a salary, or some staff who are wondering if they’re even going to have a job, a way to support their family. God, we pray for your provision. We pray that you, the Lord over all creation, the Lord over the coronavirus, the Lord over every single thing in creation, we pray that you would move in such a way that your people are provided for, even in miraculous ways.
Psalm 114:7–8 Praises God for Providing for His People
In light of Psalm 114:7–8, you turned a rock into a pool of water to satisfy and meet your people’s needs when they were wandering in the desert. So God, in this desert, in this storm, in this challenge, please God, move in power, make a way for your people to be provided for. We pray this especially for churches that are struggling right now, pastors who are struggling right now, ministries that are struggling right now.
God, we pray that as they look to you, you would work, you would move heaven and earth on their behalf for their provision. We praise you for how you have all throughout history provided for your people. We trust in you fully to do that today, and we pray on behalf of all of your people, pastors, churches, ministries, who are seeking you, doing work in your name. God, we pray for your provision, just as you have always provided in the past. We put all our trust in you, the one who causes all the earth to tremble at your presence. 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.
