Big, Simple Prayers

27 

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

    whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

    of whom shall I be afraid?

2 

When evildoers assail me

    to eat up my flesh,

my adversaries and foes,

    it is they who stumble and fall.

3 

Though an army encamp against me,

    my heart shall not fear;

though war arise against me,

    yet I will be confident.

4 

One thing have I asked of the Lord,

    that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

    all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

    and to inquire in his temple.

5 

For he will hide me in his shelter

    in the day of trouble;

he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;

    he will lift me high upon a rock.

(Psalm 27)

David had one big prayer: The presence of the Lord.  This prayer began when he was far away from Israel, before the tabernacle was brought to Jerusalem, and long before he received the vision to build the temple there.  He was hiding in the darkness of caves, on the run from both Saul and the Philistines, longing to be able to go back home and make the pilgrimage to where the tabernacle was, and worship.  It was a big request, involving many miles, numerous obstacles, an a lot of waiting. In fact, he never did worship at the temple.  But God was answering his prayer, bit by bit from that first day forward. He never stopped praying that prayer, even when he was forced out of Jerusalem by his rebellious son. He kept looking back saying "I want to be where you are, wherever I am.  That is a big, simple prayer we all can make. It was a prayer Jesus reinforced when he talked about going to prepare a place for us in the Father's house and which Paul brought out in refocusing our attention on being with the Lord instead of these temporary tabernacles we live in now.  As you pray today ( you are going to, right?), simple tell Him: "I want to be where you are; help me to know that you are here with me."