Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Ps. 62:5-8 (NIV)
Dear heavenly Father, nothing compares with the peace we have, born from the certainty of your love for us. No more wrestling with “he loves me, he loves me not”—for we now live in your permanent favor and unwavering delight. You have set your affection on us, for you have made Christ’s righteousness ours. Jesus is our Sabbath Rest, our Year of Jubilee—our mighty rock and loving refuge.
Our honor and hope depend on you, Father, not on what people think or say about us; not based on our productivity or usefulness; and not based on how much we are like Christ, but on how much we are in Christ—which is totally. This really is what we believe, Father, what we really believe the Bible teaches; and we are thankful and truly grateful.
SO, Father, here is our prayer and cry. Hear it, as we pour out our hearts to you today. May all these legal gospel rights become personal liberating delights. We want our correct theology to be our transforming doxology. We want to be freer, much freer, Father. We want to live out of the riches our rest, and less from the restlessness of our stress.
We want to shake off slights quicker. We want to be more comfortable with the unresolved, unhealed parts of our stories. We want longer fuses and shorter memories, when it comes to the failures of others. We want your mercy to tame our traumas; your grace to trump our unbelief; and your Spirit to empower us to love in the messy places of life. We want all of these things, Father, and we want them all for your glory. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ mercy-full and trust-worthy name.