Psalm 120:1-2
I love the psalms because they span the full range of human experience. Some are full of praise and worship, but others burst out with anger and disappointment. However you are feeling, there are psalms that will be just right for you, because God meets us where we are. We don’t need to pretend to be something that we are not. We can come to him with our struggles, fears, passions and hopes and know that he will understand us completely.
I’ve had the privilege of visiting a number of Benedictine monasteries in this country and in France.  I have been thrilled to live as part of their worshipping communities for a few days of retreat. Every day there are eight times of worship, and you need to know that I didn’t attend them all! Each week all of the 150 psalms are read or sung and that seems to me a wonderful rhythm of life. What has often struck me is the ruthless honesty of the psalmists. They hid nothing when they came into God’s presence. They told him exactly how they were feeling and used language that makes us wince at times.
This psalm is the first of 15 psalms of ascent. We believe that they were sung as pilgrims made their way up to Jerusalem. You can imagine their excitement as they climbed up to the city and prepared to worship God in the temple. And as they focused their thoughts on God they laid before him their struggles and fears and he answered them. It is so important that, whenever we pray, we come to God with the conviction that he will hear us. He loves us too much to always give us exactly what we ask for. But he will always hear us and answer our prayers in the way that is right for us.
QUESTION
What experience have you had of God answering your prayers?
PRAYER
Loving God, I thank you for the privilege of prayer. Help me to place it at the centre of my life. Amen

Released on 1 Jan 2023