Workday Prayers: God’s Help Against Your “Foes”

By Mark D. Roberts

April 29, 2021

Scripture Reading: Psalm 60:11-12 (NRSV)

O grant us help against the foe,
+++for human help is worthless.
With God we shall do valiantly;
+++it is he who will tread down our foes.

Focus

God will help us overcome our “foes” at work. Not human enemies, but the “foes” that we often face in our workplaces: discouragement, exhaustion, and pride. With God’s help, we will prevail. By God’s grace, we will flourish.

Prayer

Gracious God, I need your help today as I confront my “foes.” My “foes” aren’t human enemies. They’re the things I do battle with, things that drag me down, that threaten to defeat me.

Help me today, Lord, with the “foe” of discouragement. I need your Spirit to encourage me, to keep me going when my work feels fruitless.

Help me, I pray, with the “foe” of exhaustion. Sometimes it seems as if my energy has been drained away. I wonder if I can keep on going. I need your strength, Lord.

Help me today with the “foe” of pride. When things are going well at work, it’s fine to take delight in my success. But it’s too easy for me to begin to compare myself to others, to think more highly of myself than I ought to. Help me, I pray, to be truly humble, to delight in the presence of your grace, and to lift up my colleagues.

With your help, Lord, I will tread down my “foes.” I will flourish in your strength. To you be all the glory! Amen.

Ponder Throughout the Day

God will help you when you face your “foes” at work. God is there for you.

For Further Reflection

You may wish to read all of Psalm 60.

Philippians 4:12-13 – “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”


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Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the High Calling archive, hosted by the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: With God’s Help


Mark D. Roberts

Senior Strategist

Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a Senior Strategist for Fuller’s Max De Pree Center for Leadership, where he focuses on the spiritual development and thriving of leaders. He is the principal writer of the daily devotional, Life for Leaders,...

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