Psalm 25:1 – Of David.
To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
A PRAYER
Gracious Father – Hear my plea. Listen to my cry. Do not let my soul dwell alone in silence or among the loneliness of death; those terrible enemies who steal and destroy; who echo lies of shame.
Indeed, O God, you are gracious, for I know that while death swallows up those close to me, you swallowed death by your death.
But the pangs entrap me; the strains of fear and anxiety engulf me; the bitterness of hopelessness surrounds me.
Make me see your face O God; cause my eyes to look upward toward your Son; fix my gaze on the face of Jesus Christ. For in my flesh, I am beyond weakness and trembling, I am in the wake of total inability.
Indeed, O Lord, you do hear. You do not let shame completely consume me, for when I consider the cross of your Son, I remember you considered me all along.
You make me remember your love. I would never know your love if you had not lifted me from the pit, and brought me from the dwelling place of death.
In your wrath, He bore my shame, He bore my guilt and my heinous sin. In your kindness you put on your Son all of what belonged to me. In your mercy your judgment passed over me. In your love, you sacrificed Him.
In your kindness you clothed me with His righteousness by washing me clean in your Son’s precious blood; that spotless blood of the lamb, shed and poured out.
In this exchange, you made shame dwell in darkness so that I could dwell in light; you extinguished my hopelessness by anchoring my soul in the truth of the resurrection; in the One who is the Resurrection.
Death has no hope in the face of the hope of the life of Christ. Death is dead by the life of Christ.
So guard my heart O God. Keep me from willful sin. Drive unbelief far from me. Let me not know the ways of death by giving way to the ways of sin, but shelter me constantly from my own unbelieving thoughts; from my errant intentions.
Make me honest and keep my integrity intact so that I may worship you all the days of my life.
