Prayers for Workers: Rejoicing After a Difficult Season
When God delivers us from difficult times, our hearts rejoice. We can’t keep back our praise. We say to the Lord, “You have turned my mourning into dancing. You have taken off my clothes of sadness and decked me out with pure joy.” Hallelujah!
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Prayers for Workers: Strength and Peace
As we pray for our work these days, we ask for strength: strength to persevere in the midst of a seemingly endless pandemic, strength to deal with the disappointments that are so common in this time, strength to work in solitude. We also pray for peace—that is, for healthy relationships, just systems, and an abiding sense of God’s presence in the midst of such disorienting times.
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Prayers for Workers: Regarding the Works of the Lord
According to Psalm 28, those who are “workers of evil . . . do not regard the works of the LORD or the work of his hands.” By implication, if we want to be workers of good, then we will pay attention to God’s own works. The more we contemplate the work of God’s hands, the more we will be inspired to do work that honors God.
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Prayers for Workers: How Can I Be Afraid?
In a time of global pandemic, economic upheaval, and social unrest, it is easy to be afraid. But when we remember who God is and what he has done for us, our trust in him will overcome our fears. As it says in Psalm 27:1, “The LORD is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?”
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Prayers for Workers: Walking with Integrity
In the context of our daily work, we are sometimes tempted to do what we know to be wrong. Though we might never do things that are blatantly sinful, we may find it easy to rationalize certain “moral shortcuts.” Psalm 26 encourages us to walk with integrity in all we do. The more we put our trust in the Lord, the more we will be able to live so that all the pieces of our lives fit together perfectly.
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Prayers for Workers: Seeking God’s Guidance in Everything
God cares about every part of our work. Therefore, we ask for his guidance in everything related to work.
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Prayers for Workers: The Earth is the Lord’s
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it—including your workplace, tools, plans, products, inventory, colleagues, customers, employees, capital, profits, and influence. Honor and glorify God through your work today since, in the end, it all belongs to him.
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Prayers for Workers: Lord, Lead Me in Right Paths
The “right paths” or “paths of righteousness” are not limited to what we might call the “religious” or the “personal” spheres of life. Rather, they are all-inclusive. The promise of Psalm 23 is that God will lead us in “the right direction” in every part of life (following the wording of The Message). Thus, the “right paths” of this psalm have everything to do with our daily work: the actions we take, the decisions we make, the words we speak.
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God the Worker . . . Yes, It’s Personal
I need to remember that the same God who spoke the Milky Way into existence is the God who is my shepherd, who cares about me personally and who actually works for my benefit. This glorious God is also your shepherd, the one who is with you in the darkest valley, who protects you and provides for you.
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Bless the Lord at All Times
In these uncertain times, we need the Lord most of all. But we also need each other. Yes, our ability to be physically together may be limited because of the coronavirus. But we mustn’t let this stand in the way of our relational interaction. Maybe we can figure out how to be in the same space with appropriate social distancing. Maybe we can use digital technology to bridge the relationship gap. Maybe we can rely on old standbys, like telephones and even letters. However we do it, let’s take advantage of the freedom we have to share with each other our struggles and victories, our sorrows and joys. As we do, may we bless the Lord in all of the times of life.
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Your Times are in God’s Hand
Oh, I can sometimes pretend as if I’m the boss of my time. But then something comes along to jar my consciousness—something like a pandemic, for example. All of a sudden what I had been expecting to do with my time is turned upside down. And, in spite of how much I read about the coronavirus and its implications, I really don’t know what’s coming next . . . and neither do you.
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Trust in God at All Times
What does it mean to trust God? The Hebrew verb translated here as “trust” (batach) means “trust, feel safe, be confident, rely upon.” I’m reminded of how I felt as a young boy when my dad would carry on his shoulders.
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Prayers for Workers:
Learning to Lament
If we believe that God wants to teach us to pray through the Psalms, then it’s clear God wants us to learn to lament. Though the biblical psalms reflect a wide variety of themes and genres, you can’t read these inspired prayers without encountering lament after lament after lament. The psalm writers felt freedom before God to be honest about all they thought and felt. At times they would rejoice with an abandon that few of us experience. Yet, at other times, the psalmists would pour out their sadness before the Lord, sharing freely their grief, their impatience, and even their anger.
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The Myth of Certain Times
For those of us whose worldview is shaped by Scripture, the myth of earthly certainty should not bewitch us. In Psalm 46:2-3, for example, we read: “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.” This psalm assumes the inconstant nature of the world in which we live. Moreover, we rightly infer that the continually changing nature of the physical world reflects what is also true in our cultural world. Things are in flux. Things are unstable. In such a world, certainty is a myth.
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Prayers for Workers:
When Your Leadership is Thriving
As good things happen in your work, rejoice in God’s blessings, recognizing his grace at work in your life.
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