Lord, I Am Coming

October 26, 2015

Lord, I Am Coming

“My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”

And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming”

Psalm 27:8

The Apostle Paul was single-minded in his purpose. He told the Athenians, “In Christ we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28 NRSV), and he summarized his ministry in Corinth as, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). His single-minded devotion to Christ sustained him through very difficult times.

The psalmist David expresses a similar single-minded devotion to God in Psalm 27. His prose, as in verse 4, expresses his heart’s one desire: “The one thing I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.”

Some scholars have suggested this psalm may have originally been two psalms because of the shift in tense at verse seven. In the first six verses, the psalmist speaks about God, and in verse seven he begins speaking to God. I think this shift is intentional and expresses an excellent pattern for prayer.  In the first portion of the prayer, the psalmist rehearses his personal convictions, his personal core values. Having thus established a firm foundation for his faith, he then makes his petitions to God. You may want to set aside some time to formulate your own prayer using this pattern.

Begin by affirming your core values, and then as you remember verses 8, “My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming,” be open to the Lord leading you to shape your petitions.

Here are three suggestions if you have difficulty articulating your core values. First, read Psalm 27:1-6 and see how David’s affirmations resonate within you. Secondly, check out my five core values on my BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com. Go to the article, First Think, Then Pray, Part Five, posted on August 24, 2010. My third suggestion is to begin thinking about your core values in the light of the historic confession of the Christian faith, The Apostles’ Creed.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.