During 2025, Peachtree Church is focusing on the Book of Psalms with a series called Dwell, through which we seek to deepen our conversation with God and open ourselves to hearing his response. The practice of praying three times each day will unite the voices of our hearts and souls as we seek the day when we will see the full realization of the Kingdom of God, promised in Revelation 21:3: “…Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”
We will email devotionals twice weekly with Monday’s providing an overview of the Psalm as a whole, and Wednesday’s focused on that week’s Daily Dwell.
Lord, save us!
Psalm 118:25
Ann Lamott wrote that there are three essential prayers, “Help, Thanks, and Wow,” in her book that actually bears those words as its title. For so many of us, our default setting in prayer is on that first one, “Help!” That is the prayer that we see in our Daily Dwell for this week, “Lord, save us!”
Here’s the challenge: when we let “help” or “save us” be our primary way of approaching the Lord with our prayers, we miss something that is much deeper. We miss the opportunity to shift our relationship with God from being one where we see Him as someone who will answer our prayers like a cosmic vending machine, to one where we know Him, where we dwell with Him. (Does that sound familiar three months into 2025?)
But there’s a little hint as to how we can grow in this understanding when we keep reading beyond the first half of verse 25. This Psalm continues with these words: “Lord, grant us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” That last sentence should sound familiar, especially since this past Sunday was Palm Sunday, the day when we remember and celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem the week prior to his death and resurrection. The words that the crowd called out as they praised God on the first Palm Sunday were, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
God desires that we would know Him, but we do so most easily as we come to see and to know Jesus, the one whom the crowds recognized as “he who comes in the name of the Lord.” It is in the person of Jesus, fully human and fully divine, that we as humans are able to understand the divinity of God in a way that makes sense to us. It is in gaining this understanding that we are able to draw near to the Lord and shift our understanding of the relationship to which we have been called.
Through these moments, through these times of seeing God in the light of Christ, we are able to let our prayers grow beyond the place where we simply call out in the moments when we need saving. It is through these times that we can experience the moments of thankfulness and wonder at the works of our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sustainer, rather than simply seeing Him as a vending machine to answer our requests.
For Reflection
- What is your default setting when you approach God in prayer?
- What has helped you see God in a relational light?
Prayer
Lord, many of us do not come to you at all times, but only as either a last resort or when looking for a solution to a problem that is beyond us. Help us to want to spend time with you, to dwell with you, and to see the blessings that you have bestowed upon us each. Amen.
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Devotionals