Psalm 16:2, A Prayer of Recollection

Oh my soul, you have said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from you.’ Ps. 16:2

God, you know what promises I’ve made that I’ll keep and which ones I won’t, even before in my zeal I made them. You discern the difference between my whole and half-hearted prayers well before I do.

How easily I forget and how weak my follow-through can be! In light of this, I will preach to myself. I will remind my soul what it said to you before, in the valleys and mountaintops both. I’ll hold myself accountable, the best I can, to live what I said I believed about you.

I’m reminded that I told you I wanted to belong to you, that I confessed you were not only the Lord, but my Lord. That I gave you all of me, and I’ll learn to let go again.

I’m reminded that you deserve the credit for everything good I’ve ever known.

I’m reminded my righteousness is nothing more than shards of glass, injuring me and everyone else when I try to be good independent of you.

I’m reminded my successes and achievements are void apart from you.

I’m reminded that every gift I’ve been given is from you and still belongs to you. That you’re good when you give and you’re good when what you give is painful for a time.

I’m reminded that you are my treasure and my reward. That in Christ, you call me blessed and righteous and the recipient of abundant life, and I know these things remain true regardless of circumstance.

Let this be a declaration—or an affirmation of what I once declared and practiced more fully than I have recently—of my overwhelming dedication to and joy in walking one step behind you without seeing the map.

I breathe in deeply

and realize once again that the decisions aren’t mine to make, and the credit isn’t mine to take. All of this is worth knowing I’ll never be apart from you.

This prayer is the second in the series “Prayers from Psalm 16.” My hope is that these written prayers would be a starting point and that you can continue praying the selected scripture in a personal way. I chose Psalm 16 because of the vast range of human experiences it addresses and the hope it inspires in those who read it and pray it. The sweetest moments I’ve had in prayer are the moments when I decided to stop ‘trying’ and instead be raw and honest with the King. Studying scripture is a vital part of the Christian life, as are moments like these where scripture studies us—where we hold it up as a mirror and pour out before the Lord what’s really in our hearts. May this be a safe space for that.

All my love,

—M