Workday Prayers: O Lord, Do Not Delay!
Scripture Reading: Psalm 70:1, 4-5 (NRSV)
Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
O LORD, make haste to help me! . . .
Let all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you.
Let those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O LORD, do not delay!
Focus
Sometimes when we cry out to God for help, God answers right away. That feels great. But sometimes it seems like God is dawdling. God’s timing can be puzzling, even frustrating. What should we do in situations like these? Psalm 70 encourages us to be fully honest with God, even asking him to hurry up.
Prayer
Gracious God, I’m really in a jam right now. I don’t see a way out. If you don’t help me, I’m stuck without hope.
I’ve asked you to deliver me, many times, in fact. But for your own reasons you’re not acting yet. I don’t understand. I don’t like it. I believe that your ways are the best ways. I really do. But right now it doesn’t feel that way.
So, Lord, I’m asking you now to hurry up. You are my only help, my only deliverer. So, O Lord, do not delay! Please act soon. Right now would be just fine. Amen.
Ponder Throughout the Day
The Psalms give us freedom to ask God for whatever we need, even if what we need is for God to hurry up and help us.
For Further Reflection
You might read all of Psalm 70.
Psalm 35:23 makes a similar request. Here’s The Message version of that verse:
“Please get up – wake up! Tend to my case. My God, my Lord – my life is on the line.”
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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: Better Than Answered Prayer
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,...