“The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the House of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him.”
– Psalm 92:12–15
So as we pray for specific people and specific needs during this coronavirus pandemic, I was reading Psalm 92:12–15 and thinking about something Tamara sent in. So, just a reminder, I invite you to send in prayer requests to radical.net/prayerrequest. Just go there, and let us know specific ways we can be praying for you. We’re taking one of those each day and just applying God’s word to how do we pray for this person in particular, knowing that this person likely represents many people right now.
Let’s go to the Lord on behalf of senior saints in nursing homes and senior living facilities. Father, help these brothers and sisters to bear fuit even in difficult circumstances.
Pray For The Older Generations During The Pandemic
So Tamara writes, “Please pray for my 93 year old dad who is now quarantined in his room at his assisted living facility. My mom went to heaven two months ago. My dad is isolating and grieving. His faith is strong, but I know he gets lonely. Thank you.” I just think about Tamara’s dad and so many like him who are in nursing homes or in assisted living facilities, many who know Jesus. I’m thinking about what Psalm 92 just said, “The righteous flourish, they’re planted in the House of the Lord and they bear fruit in old age. They’re ever full of sap and green.”
And as we read headlines about more people testing positive for this virus, more people dying from this virus, and specifically, how nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been hit hard by this virus, one home in Maryland right near me reports 66 cases as of a couple of days ago. Like, I want to lead us to pray specifically, for brothers and sisters who are in old age to use Psalm 92:14 language, that during these days they would bear fruit like trees ever full of sap and green. And I love this picture, Psalm 92:15 to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock.
Psalm 92:12–15 Prays For The Protection Of The Elderly
So I want us to pray for their protection and for fruit from their lives in nursing homes and in assisted living facilities, and for the spread of the Gospel through them and amidst the urgency of these days. So God, we pray. We pray specifically for Tamara’s dad right now, as he is alone and isolated. Based on what Tamra has shared here, we trust that he knows you, you know him, he is your child, your son. And we pray that you would help him in his 93rd year to bear fruit, to be ever full of sap and green during these days. Draw him into deeper intimacy with you. More than he has experienced before.
God, we pray that for every brother or sister we have in a nursing home or in an assisted living facility right now, who are likely isolated in ways they have not been, and obviously more prone to this virus. God, we pray. We pray for their protection, we pray for their spiritual intimacy with you, and God we pray, we pray that they would know your presence with them, your power in them, that you would draw them into deeper communion with you during these days, each of them than they’ve ever experienced before. And God we pray, and we pray for the spread of the Gospel in nursing homes. We pray for the spread of the Gospel in assisted living facilities. As well as those who have tested positive for this virus.
Psalm 92:12–15 Prays That God Draws People To Him
Among those who may not know you, God, we pray. We pray with urgency that you would draw many people to yourself, God. That people know your saving power. God as we plead, we plead for the stop of this virus, for the stop of its spread. Only you can bring that about, oh God. And we pray knowing that our deepest need is not even physical healing. Our deepest need is reconciliation with you. So we pray for the spread of your Gospel, your grace. We pray for the spread of eternal life through Jesus during these days. Particularly in nursing homes and particularly in assisted living facilities.
And we pray for your blessing on those who are caring for the elderly. God, we pray that you would strengthen them day-by-day, that you would protect them like we prayed in Psalm 90, establish the work of their hands. God, we pray that you would use their hands as a display of your love and protection, and that you would strengthen every single one of those workers. So God, we pray for Tamara’s dad, and for countless others of our brothers and sisters like him. May they bear fruit in old age. Ever full of sap and green, to declare that you are upright and you are their rock.
We pray this in Jesus’ name. 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.
