November 4, 2012 (Psalm 4:8)

Author: Andrew Comiskey
November 04, 2012
‘I will lie down and sleep in peace…’ (Ps. 4:8)

Many times, Annette and I lay in bed at night awaiting the return of a troubled child. Anxiety is easy; how difficult to entrust our children and loved ones to the living God.

We can cover them with our prayers. Those prayers begin with confession and repentance for our sins and those of our generation. With the Psalmist we cry out: ‘Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.’ (PS 79: 8) If our familiar sins have not given us a fear of the Lord, perhaps our children’s will! We then pray accordingly, asking God to set into motion the plan that will reduce our children to the very mercy has become our freedom. We pray like this: ‘Do not hold our sins against them; release them to Your mercy…’

Then we ask God specifically to visit our loved ones with His Almighty Mercy. I love the Canaanite woman who implored the Lord to act on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter. She humbled herself and with great faith likened herself to a dog at His table, grateful for any crumb He might drop for herself and kin. Moved by her faith, He healed the girl in an instant. (Matt. 15: 21-28)

‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be answered to you.’ (Matt. 6:7)

‘Father, establish a momentum in our cries for mercy. Let it begin with ourselves, then let mercy roll like a river into the lives of our loved ones. Help us to trust that You work all things for the good to those You love—parents and children alike. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we confess our sins of cowardice and compromise. We have violated Your holy commands in regards to what we have done to our bodies and to other bodies. And in our compromise we have become cowards, unwilling to stand for what we know to be true for the dignity of all. We ask that You might have mercy on Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington; uphold marriage in these states, and in our nation, as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on ‘gay marriage.’
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