Psalm 16:3, A Prayer for the Saints
As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. Ps. 16:3
As I’ve seen your grace at work in me, I see it too in my brothers and sisters, the saints—the excellent ones—who excel, who win, who overcome, who are powerful, gallant, mighty, noble.
I see your glory and goodness in flawed human beings, and I’m overjoyed by the people who bear your image and keep me from journeying alone.
Community matters to you, for it was in community that you began your work and in community that you will see it through. You were in community when we began, and you didn’t call our beginning good until we were in community too.
I believe there are gifts awaiting us that we’d never know on our own. You told your disciples to pray, “Our Father,” to live before you like one big family. Nothing can replace that.
Forgive us for where our imperfections motivate us to cast each other aside, to avoid loving in order to avoid the risk of being hurt. We forfeit the opportunity to see your heart, your love impersonated, when we make that choice—because every person bears your image in a way never before seen, and to love them is to love you.
Where our love has been lacking, will you make up the difference?
Will you bind us together in a unity that cannot be corroded by small annoyances or demolished by the unexpected explosions of tragedy or sin?
We are your church. You haven’t given up on us. Help us not to either.
THANK YOU:
For our brothers and sisters, who, after climbing to the top of the mountain, have lifted a pail of water—the thin, metal handle stamping red indentations into their palms—and journeyed back down the trail to where we sat weary on the side of it.
This prayer is the third 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