“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.”
– Psalm 95:6–7
I love Psalm 95:6–7 and the first five verses of this chapter just talk about the greatness of God, how he is a great King above all gods, how the sea belongs to him because he made it. His hands formed the dry land. He is the Lord our maker and then you get to verse 7 and it says that this God is like a shepherd to us as his sheep. We are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand.
Today we ask the Lord to supply grace upon grace for those with special needs and their families. We also pray for those who serve the special needs community.
The imagery there is just the way a shepherd loves and cares for sheep and here’s why these two verses particularly stuck out to me today as we are praying specifically for different people who are sending in prayer requests to radical.net/prayerrequests. Again, I encourage you to send in specific things that relate to your life or family or church during this pandemic as we pray for one another specifically and trust that we’re walking through a lot of similar things and I have heard numerous times now from people saying, “Please pray for families who have children with special needs.”
Psalm 95:6–7 Reminds Us Of The Pandemics Effect On Those With Special Needs
Cathy writes, “Please pray for families with special needs children. Our children often have limited activities and now with churches and schools closing and preferred activities like parks and recreational activities closed, special families will need extra strength, comfort, support, help, and peace.” Valerie, likewise writes, “Please pray for all the families that have children with special needs. This time is particularly difficult for families like ours with missed therapy services, changes in routine, delayed doctor’s appointments, missed paychecks, et cetera. Our families…” Valerie writes, “…are already under different stress than other families and times like this compound those stressors as we try to get what we need for our children.” She specifically says, “We have two young boys with autism who are also immunocompromised.”
We Should Praise God For His Grace In All Of Us
Aaron is an occupational therapist who works with children with various disabilities. Cindy wrote similarly. This is a ministry that we give a lot of focus to in the church that I pastor to children and adults with special needs and their families. And so as I’m reading Psalm 95:6–7 and picturing God and all of his greatness as a shepherd who cares gently for his sheep.
I just want to lead us to pray specifically for these families and these kids that God would shepherd care for, protect, provide for and help, serve, love in every way they need with an extra measure of grace. And I say that knowing these are families who already depend on extra measures of grace all day long. And so just to pray for a double, triple dose of grace.
God, we praise you for your grace in every single person uniquely, beautifully, and wonderfully made in your image. We praise you for how children with very special needs and adults with various special needs reflect your grace and your glory in such beautiful ways. And God, we pray for those children and adults with special needs. God, we pray that you would grant them an extra measure of grace during these days as they’re out of routine, as they’re separated from doctor’s appointments or therapy services that are really helpful, as they are even further immunocompromised.
Psalm 95:6–7 Prays For The Parents Of Children With Special Needs
God, we pray for parents of children with special needs. God, we pray for your provision for them, for your strength for them, for your help for them, for your grace toward them. So God, we just pray even right now that you would just cover Cathy’s home and cover Valerie’s home and so many like them who have children with special needs and who are experiencing particular challenges during these days. God, please, please show your grace. God, please show your strength on their behalf as their shepherd.
You are the Lord, the Great God, the King above all gods. You are our maker and we are the people of your pasture. Kathy, Valerie, their families, their children are the people of your pasture, the sheep of your hands. So please protect, provide, and shepherd them by your grace for your glory during these days. 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.
