‘Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens, you who have done great things. Who is like you, God? Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once more. ‘
Psalms 71:19-21

Psalm 71 is one of my favorite Psalms—although we don’t know who it’s written by, we do know that this entire Psalm is full of promises and truth.

Every time I’m sitting in my car before work, I read this Psalm out loud.

It holds cries to God: deliver me from the hand of the wicked, Lord. (v. 4)

It holds praises: my mouth is filled with praise. (v. 8)

It holds promises: do not forsake me til I declare your power. (v. 16-18)

It holds proof of the Lord’s power: your righteousness reaches to the heavens. (v. 19)

I love praying this Psalm and entering my own things, maybe the name of the specific person or a certain situation. And something that’s encouraging is this:

The Lord listens to the prayers of His people (Psalm 34:17).

More often than not, we think that how we say our words is the most important part of prayer, when in reality, it’s the opposite: it’s the heart posture that we have that matters. But the good news is: the Lord truly hears our prayers.

Personally, impatience is the reason I don’t want to pray for things—I want the answered prayer now, in this moment, in this place, but the Lord ultimately knows what is best for us.

As we step into this week and are about to start this new school year, I encourage and invite you: start praying with a heart posture that desires what the Lord has for us. It’s good plans, friend, and I pray that your hands are open to what He has.

Thanks for reading, have a great week!
Willow