“The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; The LORD accepts my prayer.”
~ Psalm 6:9
Hi James and Ellen,
Are you learning to pray? What do you say when you pray? What do you pray about when you pray? When your ma and dad pray, what do they say? What are you doing when you pray? Who are you talking to when you pray? Your grandpaa sure has a lot of questions for you today. Your grandpaa has one more question for you. Who is teaching you to pray? Your ma and dad are helping you to learn to pray. They are being an example for you when they pray. Your grandpaa’s ma and dad prayed before every single meal and after every single meal. Your grandmaa and grandpaa pray together most every day. The Bible is the best teacher on praying. Praying is God listening to you and talking with you. Because God cannot be seen, it may seem weird for a guy, gal or kid who is praying to talk to and to listen to someone Who he or she cannot see but that is the way that God wants it to be. When a guy, gal or kid makes the faith decision to believe in God’s Son Jesus, God will enter as the Holy Spirit into the heart of the guy, gal or kid. God’s presence will then always be in the life of a guy, gal or kid who believes in Jesus. God uses the examples of a lot of people in the Bible to teach each guy, gal and kid who believes in what Jesus has done for him or for her how to pray. Jesus not only taught how to pray; Jesus even left a prayer that guys, gals and kids still pray. The prayer is called the Lord’s Prayer. David is someone else who taught how to pray. The Psalms that David wrote are often prayers. David wrote some of his prayers as songs. Some guys, gals and kids write down what they want to pray. That can be a very good habit to have – as it makes it easier for a guy, gal or kid to remember what he or she would like to talk to God about. A prayer should never be filled with just requests for God to do something for you. A prayer should be a time when you thank God for all the things that He is doing and what He has done for you and for others. Believing in God is to believe that He as your Heavenly Father cares about you so much that He will answer your prayers. What is something that God might want you to say to Him right now? Your grandpaa believes that God wants you to thank Him for having you be exactly who you are and where He has you at this very moment.
Reading the Psalms that David wrote will teach you what God wants to hear in your prayers to Him. David wrote Psalm 6 when he was sick. Your grandpaa does not feel well today. Your grandpaa’s throat really hurts him. Your grandpaa has a cough. God was upset with David when David wrote Psalm 6. David knew that he had sinned. David knew that he had to suffer the consequences of his sin. More often than not God is not punishing us when we get sick. God is teaching us how important it is to ask Him to make us well. God is always teaching us to have more faith in Him. God is teaching us to trust Him to help us. Do you sometimes think that if your dad and ma had a lot of money that you would be happier? Do you sometimes think that if your dad had a good job that you would be able to do more things? Do you sometimes think that if your dad was important that you would be liked more? David was a king. David had a lot of money. David was a very important guy when he wrote this Psalm. God still had David become sick. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have gotten sick. Your grandmaa had typhoid when she lived in Bolivia. Your grandmaa’s doctor kept your grandmaa in a clinic for a number of days until she began to feel better. Your grandpaa was sick with malaria here in Guatemala a couple of years ago. Typhoid and malaria kill people. When your grandpaa went to see the doctor when he had malaria, he was really sick. Malaria causes a guy, gal or kid who has malaria to really shake – like he or she feels like he or she is freezing cold. Malaria will then cause a guy, gal or kid who has malaria to really sweat a lot – like he or she feels like he or she is burning up hot. Malaria affects body organs – like the liver and the spleen. Your grandpaa’s body began to really, really hurt. A guy, gal or kid who has malaria feels the symptoms of having malaria for a day. The next day your grandpaa felt okay again. The next day your grandpaa would feel awful again. The fourth time that this happened your grandpaa asked your grandmaa to drive him to his doctor’s clinic. Your grandpaa’s doctor hospitalized your grandpaa because he was so sick. He had your grandpaa take some medicine to get rid of the malaria. He released your grandpaa from the hospital later that day. Your grandpaa did not feel like doing very much for days after he was sick with malaria. Your grandpaa finally did get better. Your grandpaa sure was praying to God that God would make him well.
Because David knew that he had made God angry, David asks God in his psalm song not to punish him. David knew all about God’s love and mercy. David knew that God wanted him to sincerely praise Him. David was tired of being very sick. David did not want to die. David was also tired of people who disliked him who were saying that God was no longer going to help him. David was confident that God would help him again and that God would heal him. David says in verse 9 “The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; The LORD accepts my prayer.” When we pray, we are to pray like David. When David prayed, he knew that he was talking with God and that God was listening to him. David knew that God would answer his prayer to be healed. David knew that God would show the people who did not know God as he did that God had not forgotten him. We can be just as sure as David was that God will hear our prayers and that He will heal us when we are sick. Your grandpaa would like you to ask God right now that He will have your grandpaa become healthy again and that He will heal your grandmaa’s right hip. Even though you cannot see God, you can be totally confident that God will always listen to what you are wanting Him to do for you.
Psalm 6 (24)