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Praying Christian Women - 507 Praying Through Psalms 70: When You Need God to Hurry! · LifeAudio

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey there, and welcome to another Prayer Through
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  Speaker 1: the Psalms episode of the Praying Christian Women podcast. I
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  Speaker 1: am Jamie, and I am very excited to bring to
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  Speaker 1: you today Psalm 70. Psalm 70 is, interestingly, almost word
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  Speaker 1: for word, but not quite, a repetition of several verses
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  Speaker 1: in a previous psalm. So it's Psalm 40, verses 13
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  Speaker 1: to 17. So if you want to look at them
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  Speaker 1: in parallel, you can. But yeah, it's almost an exact
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  Speaker 1: repetition of the final five verses of Psalm 40. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I mentioned that when we went over
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 40. But Psalm 40 talks about remembering how God
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  Speaker 1: had delivered them in the past and ends with an
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  Speaker 1: urgent cry for help. Psalm 70 basically takes that closing
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  Speaker 1: prayer for help And it turns it into a standalone psalm,
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  Speaker 1: which is kind of like if you took just the
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  Speaker 1: chorus of a song and just sang that. And to me,
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  Speaker 1: it kind of conveys this, let's just cut to the chase.
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  Speaker 1: So I think there's real benefit in approaching God with like,
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  Speaker 1: I used to love the Acts version of prayer. I
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  Speaker 1: still do. But I remember I used to do it
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  Speaker 1: more regularly. We've done episodes on that where we talk
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  Speaker 1: about it. You start with adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and then supplication,
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  Speaker 1: which is like the asking. And there's something about that
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  Speaker 1: format of prayer that feels less rude, if I'm being honest.
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  Speaker 1: I feel like just coming to God and being like, God,
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  Speaker 1: help right now. Typically, I don't have a lion chasing me,
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  Speaker 1: so I don't need that. But sometimes we do have
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  Speaker 1: the theoretical or maybe in your case, physical lion chasing you.
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  Speaker 1: When we have an urgent need, sometimes we need an
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  Speaker 1: urgent prayer. And if we're borrowing prayers and borrowing Psalms,
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  Speaker 1: this would be one if you just needed to cut
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  Speaker 1: to the chase. So another interesting thing about this Psalm
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  Speaker 1: is in the first version of it in Psalm 40,
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  Speaker 1: David had started with the Hebrew word that means to
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  Speaker 1: be pleased or be willing. So it's kind of, be pleased,
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  Speaker 1: O Lord, to deliver me. Whereas this urgent Psalm 70
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  Speaker 1: leaves out the opening verb and it basically says, O God,
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  Speaker 1: to deliver me. And another thing about this is the
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  Speaker 1: word for God is changed. So Yahweh, which is the
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  Speaker 1: personal Hebrew name or Jehovah, the personal Hebrew name for God,
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  Speaker 1: for his people, the people of Israel, That is used
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  Speaker 1: in Psalm 40, but in Psalm 70, the opening verse
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  Speaker 1: uses both. So I'll give you an example. So in
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  Speaker 1: the very beginning, verse one, it says,' O God, hasten
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  Speaker 1: to deliver me.' O Lord, hasten to my help.' This
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  Speaker 1: is the Nazby 1995. That O God is Elohim, which
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  Speaker 1: is a more general term for God, tends to be
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  Speaker 1: used more in describing creator God or the God who
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  Speaker 1: brings order out of chaos, whereas O Lord is Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: or Jehovah, however you want to pronounce it. And it
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  Speaker 1: is God's personal name to his people of Israel. And
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  Speaker 1: so both are used here, which I think is really interesting.
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  Speaker 1: Scholars differ and just kind of most of them just say,
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  Speaker 1: we don't know why. I just wonder if the emphasis
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  Speaker 1: on Elohim as the general gigantic God of not just Israel,
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  Speaker 1: but the universal God of everything. I wonder if it's
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  Speaker 1: for the benefit of people there who are not Hebrew.
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  Speaker 1: I want during the singing of this, because it is
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  Speaker 1: probably a singing. It says for the choir director, a
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  Speaker 1: Psalm of David for a memorial and it's prayer for
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  Speaker 1: help against persecutors. I just wonder if maybe it's kind
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  Speaker 1: of more universally like giving a theological kind of encompassing,
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  Speaker 1: like almost like offering a hand out to people who
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  Speaker 1: are there who need help from the universal. And I
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  Speaker 1: don't mean universal in the theological sense of like all
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  Speaker 1: are saved. Jesus is not the only way. I do
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  Speaker 1: not mean that. What I mean universal is there's Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: who specifically chose the people of Israel to to be
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  Speaker 1: a blessing for all. Yahweh, Jehovah God, is the God
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  Speaker 1: of everyone. He is the universal God. But when the
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  Speaker 1: language doesn't use that personal Hebrew name, I just wonder
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  Speaker 1: if somehow the people that were around, the people who
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  Speaker 1: were foreigners, who were not the people of Israel, would
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  Speaker 1: maybe relate? I don't know. I'm not a theologian. I've
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  Speaker 1: said this many times. So this is just a thought
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  Speaker 1: that I had. Some people think maybe It's shying away
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  Speaker 1: from speaking the name Yahweh because there are a group
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  Speaker 1: of Psalms in this general vicinity of a chunk of
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  Speaker 1: Psalms that use Elohim a lot more. But they use
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  Speaker 1: Jehovah or Yahweh in this beginning verse also. So I
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  Speaker 1: don't think it's trying to get away from using Yahweh.
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  Speaker 1: I almost wonder if it's saying, hey, this God that
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  Speaker 1: brings order out of chaos, God from Genesis, the beginning,
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  Speaker 1: in the beginning God, and then Yahweh. the God who
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  Speaker 1: has now chosen his people and I'm one of them. Like,
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  Speaker 1: help me. Kind of like acknowledging his two different qualities
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  Speaker 1: of his character. I don't know. That's just a thought. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: this psalm is beautiful and it can be used in
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  Speaker 1: times of need when you just need a, you know,
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  Speaker 1: like get right to the point psalm to call for help.
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  Speaker 1: So Let's pray. Father God, we praise you for all
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  Speaker 1: of your attributes, for being Elohim, the creator God, who
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  Speaker 1: brought this universe into existence from nothing. Just with the
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  Speaker 1: sound of your voice, you spoke everything we see around
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  Speaker 1: us into existence. And we praise you for being the
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  Speaker 1: personal God who chooses, who's not just a distant, ancient entity.
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  Speaker 1: We praise you and thank you that we don't have
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  Speaker 1: to pray to the universe. We don't have to pray
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  Speaker 1: to a higher power. We can pray to a personal
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  Speaker 1: God who has a name, Yahweh, who chose people to
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  Speaker 1: represent a nation, not to be exclusive, but to bring
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  Speaker 1: forth Jesus Christ, who opened the way for salvation for all,
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  Speaker 1: for literally anyone who believes. Thank you for that gift.
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  Speaker 1: We pray that you would bless the reading of your word.
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  Speaker 1: We pray that you would speak to us through your
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit and help us to really hear and see
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  Speaker 1: what you want us to get out of it. In Jesus' name, amen.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's read our psalm. Psalm 70, prayer for
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  Speaker 1: help against persecutors. For the choir director, a psalm of
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  Speaker 1: David for a memorial. O God, Elohim, hasten to deliver me.
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  Speaker 1: O Lord, Yahweh, hasten to my help. Let those be
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  Speaker 1: ashamed and humiliated who seek my life. Let those be
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  Speaker 1: turned back and dishonored who delight in my hurt. Let
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  Speaker 1: those be turned back because of their shame who say, Aha, aha.
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  Speaker 1: So this is another imprecatory prayer for those enemies that
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  Speaker 1: are coming against him or that lion who's chasing him.
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  Speaker 1: Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.
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  Speaker 1: And let those who love your salvation say continually, Let
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  Speaker 1: God be magnified. Again, that's Elohim. But I am afflicted
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  Speaker 1: and needy. Hasten to me, O God. You are my
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  Speaker 1: help and my deliverer. O Lord, and that's Yahweh, do
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  Speaker 1: not delay. So this brings in both of those words
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  Speaker 1: for God. And it brings up the question, can we
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  Speaker 1: hurry God? It makes me think of the persistent widow
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  Speaker 1: who just keeps knocking, keeps asking. And I think this
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  Speaker 1: psalm gives us permission. We can ask. We can tell
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  Speaker 1: God that it feels like we need urgency. It feels
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  Speaker 1: like we need help now. Kind of like last week,
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 69, where the water was rising up to David's
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  Speaker 1: neck and he kind of urgently needed God right at
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  Speaker 1: that moment and trusted him to save him before he
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  Speaker 1: was consumed. But this is a time when David is
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  Speaker 1: demonstrating that we are allowed to ask and to say,
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  Speaker 1: please come quickly. help me quickly, I'm dying, I'm drowning here.
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  Speaker 1: So whatever you have going on in your life, the
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  Speaker 1: temptation sometimes for me is to think, okay, it's demonstrating
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  Speaker 1: a lack of faith in God to keep asking for
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  Speaker 1: something that I feel like I'm in desperate need for.
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  Speaker 1: But I think sometimes what happens is if we don't
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  Speaker 1: keep going to God for things we're desperate for, our
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  Speaker 1: tendency might be to take things into our own hands
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  Speaker 1: And do things that, you know, think of Abram and Sarai.
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  Speaker 1: And God promised a son. And it felt like time
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  Speaker 1: was running out. And instead. of going to God and saying, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: give us a son, give us a son and relying
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  Speaker 1: on him and trusting on him and continuing to ask,
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  Speaker 1: they took matters into their own hands. And I'm not
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  Speaker 1: saying there's not a time for action and there's not
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  Speaker 1: time when God is silent so that we will move
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  Speaker 1: forward and listen for the next steps. But going to
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  Speaker 1: God over and over is not a lack of faith.
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  Speaker 1: That's what this tells us. Going to God and saying,
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  Speaker 1: hurry God, I need you, is what he wants from
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  Speaker 1: us when we're feeling desperate. Let's pray. God, we praise
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  Speaker 1: you for being a God who hears. We thank you
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  Speaker 1: that we can come to you when we're feeling desperate,
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  Speaker 1: that we don't have to scramble and try to take
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  Speaker 1: matters into our own hands. Lord, we pray against the
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  Speaker 1: temptation to try and work things in a way that
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  Speaker 1: will make things happen or force things to happen that
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  Speaker 1: weren't meant to yet. Give us patience. Help us to
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  Speaker 1: wait on you and your perfect timing. And give us
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  Speaker 1: wisdom to know when to act. Give us wisdom to
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  Speaker 1: know when it's time to take a step of faith
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  Speaker 1: and wait to hear that voice calling from behind us
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  Speaker 1: that we should go to the right or to the left.
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  Speaker 1: This is the way. Walk in it. We pray that
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  Speaker 1: our ears and our hearts would just be attuned to
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  Speaker 1: your voice, that we would recognize you, that you would
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  Speaker 1: just drown out all of the other noise. In Jesus' name, amen.
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