A HEART AFTER GOD’S
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Opening Prayer
Father, with all that I am, I want to worship you today. Help me to please you in everything I say and do.
Read PSALM 28
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Psalm
Psalm 28
1 To you, LORD, I call; you are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil, who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts.
4 Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work; repay them for what their hands have done and bring back on them what they deserve.
5 Because they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and never build them up again.
6 Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
8 The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
9 Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever.
Reflect
Spend a few minutes looking at a picture of yourself, aware of God’s presence with you. Pay attention to the feelings surfacing and offer them to him.Just as a picture’s frame and mount guide our gaze, aiding our appreciation, so the opening and closing sections of this psalm help us understand its passionate cry. Despite his desperate situation, David focuses on God: Rock and responder (v. 1), strength, protection, salvation, and shepherd (vv. 8, 9). He brings his requests to the One who is faithful, engaged, and able, the One who keeps and carries those in his care. In prayer, we entrust our needs and desires to God, whose character can safely hold and handle the humanness of our hearts—what a comfort! David’s plea for mercy sets the tone of the psalm (vv. 2, 6); his primary motivation is help and justice personally (v. 3), rather than harm for his adversaries.
Knowing that this prayer is bound by God’s character and born of hope in his mercy, we come to the painting in the center. Here, David leaves his appeal for justice in God’s hands, recognizing that human will and work set against God’s will and work cannot stand (vv. 4, 5). Full of the complex colors of strong emotions, Psalm 28 is a picture of how, as those ‘after [God’s] own heart’ (Acts 13:22), we can embody both justice and mercy, regardless of what we face.
Apply
Which aspects of God’s heart do you find it easy to emulate? Which are uncomfortable? Notice how you respond in different situations this week and ask God to shape your heart after his.
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, with everything in me, I want to be someone ‘after God’s own heart.’ Please continue to transform me into Christ’s own image.
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