O my soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord; I have no good without You.”
Psalm 16:2, LSB
In honest confession, as we search the depths of who we are, we realize how hopeless we are without our Lord. It is only through God that we are made righteous. It is not just any god to whom we are to pray. If we were to pray to Allah, Vishnu, or any other of the myriad of gods that we find from the past, present, or future, we find that they are merely reflections of how we like to see ourselves. We pray to the Triune God who, through the Son, entered into Creation and died for our sins. We don’t seek to appease Yahweh through our prayers but cry out for His help and guidance. He is not a genie in a bottle that is meant to fulfill our wishes, but to whom we cry out for mercy. Christ and Christ alone gave of Himself for us. He gave us salvation through His sacrifice. Without our acceptance of Him, we find that we have little hope. The anger of our Lord is something we are to fear, but we don’t pray to God in order to ask for Him to be distant. We pray for God to come near to us and to let us feel His presence near us. Our souls yearn for His nearness and comfort because He is where we find our peace.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.