Pastor Fredo Ramos: For whatever reason, I have always struggled to pray. And so as this new year begins and as many of you think about new routines that you wanna give yourself to, especially for those of you who follow Jesus, I wanna invite you to learn to pray the Psalms with us. It's a practice I picked up years ago that really saved, my ability to learn to pray, to speak to God honestly about how I was feeling and what I was thinking. And so every single day on sandalschurch.tv on YouTube, we're gonna be releasing, praying the Psalms, a Psalm a day. We started in January 1, and every day you're gonna get a new Psalm with the opportunity to read the Psalm with us, to reflect on a phrase, and then to respond to God in prayer, how to pray through the Psalms.
This has been a gift to me in my own journey with Jesus. I pray that it's a gift to you, and so would you join us. Grace and peace.
Dani Crowley: We continue our journey into the Psalms today by reading Psalm 56. It says, oh, God, have mercy on me. For people are hounding me. My foes attack me all day long, and I'm constantly hounded by those who slander me. And many are boldly attacking me.
But when I'm afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can your mortals do to me? They are always twisting what I say.
They spend their days plotting to harm me. They come together to spy on me, watching my every step, eager to kill me. Don't let them get away with their wickedness. In your anger, oh, God, bring them down. You keep track of all of my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help. This I know God is on my side. I praise God for what he has promised.
Yes. I praise the Lord for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can your mortals do to me? I will fulfill my vows to you, oh God, and I will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help.
For you have rescued me from death. You have kept my feet from slipping. So now I walk in your presence, oh God, in your life giving light. I think that's a really interesting phrase that the psalmist use for God to collect his tears in a bottle. Usually, when you see someone crying, there's it's the action of of wiping away the tear, not catching them and collecting them.
But, there's a translation that says that that God collects them and and he stores them in his book of remembrance. And I think that this tells us that that God doesn't just wipe away our tears. In this moment he's not saying that. He's saying he collects them, he stores them, he does not dismiss them, but he remembers them and he holds them. And you have to be close to collect a tear in a bottle.
He's close in your sorrow. He's close in, the moments when you feel weak and you need God's help. He he remembers you. And I love that David later also remembers the Lord through his sacrifice of thanks, through fulfilling the vows. He says, I will remember how you've helped me.
As God, remembers us and remembers you in the moments of sorrow, there's this this turning that happens where we also remember God. And this gives us comfort. It gives us hope. We can, pray and go to God knowing that he doesn't dismiss our emotions or our sadness, but he remembers them and he is with us even in those moments. So, god, we just we say thank you that you are tender towards us, that you don't dismiss our feelings or our sadness, even as long as it carries on.
God, you are so patient with us. You're you're compassionate. You're kind. God, you remember us in our sorrow. And God, we just we say thank you, for how you have helped us.
Would you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, even, help us to recall in this moment the ways that you have helped us, the ways that you have been near over the over the years, the ways that you have been close and present, the ways that you have ministered to us and comforted us. God, and I pray that for those even now maybe who who need that in this moment, God, that you would, be near, that your presence and your closeness would be felt so deeply. Jesus, we thank you for who you are to us. We thank you again just for your kindness, your tenderness, and your compassion towards us. We love you Jesus, and we pray this in your name.
Amen.