Pray The Psalms

Pray the Psalms

God’s way is perfect. All the LORD’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. 2 Samuel 22:31

At one time or another, every parent or grandparent worries about the path that lies before a beloved child. Many of us find it helpful, even comforting, to use the Psalms as a foundation for prayer. As an example, here’s a prayer that follows Psalm 25:16-21: “Lord, turn to [insert child’s name] and have mercy, for she is alone and in deep distress. Her problems go from bad to worse. Oh, save her from them all! Feel her pain and see her trouble. Forgive all her sins. See how many enemies she has and how viciously they hate her! Protect her! Rescue her life from them! Do not let her be disgraced, for in you she takes refuge. May integrity and honesty protect her, for she puts her hope in you.”

During Karen’s son Clayton’s tough teen years, Karen prayed for her son, asking God to protect him and love him and gently bring him back into the fold. She confesses that the word gently may have been a problem, as she wondered whether God really would be gentle or would take him through the deepest pain to jerk him back.

One of my friends got to the point with her son where she finally prayed, “Whatever it takes, Lord. If it costs an arm or a leg or an eye, whatever it takes. But bring him back to you.”

Many of us want to pray that prayer, and yet we’re afraid to and afraid not to. I once believed I could create a perfect personal world if I worked hard enough at it. Now I understand my goal is to work hard at turning impossible situations over to the Lord. He alone can give us the internal peace we long for. He alone can help us rest in him. The problem is, of course, we want our children to know the richness of God’s peace and power, but we don’t want them to have to go through the painful process. Let’s remember the heavenly Father is shaping those we love, not destroying them, and his allowing them to go through turmoil is part of his training. —SANDRA

Lord, remind me to pray for children and teens in specific ways before they face the temptations that would pull them into wrong choices. And as I pray, remind me you are greater than any challenge.

Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying you know what he can do.

—ANDREW MURRAY (1828–1917), SOUTH AFRICAN WRITER AND PASTOR