"I cry to You, O Lord"

Today is the National Day of Prayer.  It is a tremendous blessing that we have a day such as this set aside to pray and cry out to our great Creator.  This is actually something that has been practiced for centuries.  As one website states, “Days of prayer have a long history in America.”  The site goes on to list dozens of instances of this.  There are so many examples that could be underscored, but this paragraph caught my attention:

“The same week Congress passed the Bill of Rights, President George Washington declared [these words on] October 3, 1789…“Both houses of Congress have by their joint Committee, requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer to be observed’… I do recommend the 26th day of November…that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks…Humbly offering our prayers to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.” (Source: http://www.nationaldayofprayer.org/history_of_prayer_in_america)

Furthermore, Abraham Lincoln once said, “It is the duty of nations as well as men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with the assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon.” (Source: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/fast.htm)

May I tell you how motivated I was by Abraham Lincoln’s words in that quote?  I was inspired, first of all, to confess my dependence on God once more.  Psalm 73:25 sums up my heartfelt cry: “My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”  The beginning of that verse brings up mankind’s sin problem; which leads me to the second aspect of Lincoln’s thoughts that I want to emphasize: confession of sin to God.

Psalm 130 is a beautiful passage; in the first few verses we read, “Out of the depths, I cry to You, O Lord…Let Your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.  If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins…who could stand?  But with You, there is forgiveness.”  Matthew West, in his beautiful song, “Mended” presents the lyrics as if God Himself were singing.  At one point in the song, this line is given: “You see your worst mistake; I see the price I paid.”  Because of the cross of Jesus Christ; because of His shed blood for us, we can be forgiven.  This is something to be celebrated, not just on the National Day of Prayer, but every single day.

Kevin