[Blessed is the one] whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1:2-3 (NIV)

I feel a new weight of responsibility, a heaviness. This confuses me since life is marching along quite well at this time. I just welcomed a lovely daughter-in-law. My spouse and I have reached a new level of comfortableness. All my kiddos live nearby. Our ministry effectively bears fruit. And a new writing project brews on the horizon.

So why this dip in my joy? The Psalmist says that the blessed person meditates on God’s Word day and night—they mutter it to themselves constantly. They ruminate on it, they treasure and ponder it, if you will. This habitual focusing on God’s truth brings them back to the One who nourishes them and causes them to prosper. This is a picture of blessedness.

One aspect of meditating on God’s Word is praying to him, using his words and his truths in my conversation with him. I sense God leading me to take my weight, my concern to him in this manner. Did I not just study the command to not be anxious but instead to pray (Philippians 4:7)? Here is my opportunity to live this out.

This is a call to a new level of prayer, a new way of “adulting”. With the passing of my parents, I now take up the mantel of prayer for my family. And the adding of a new member emphasizes this responsibility in a different way.

Constantly, habitually, I pledge to meditate on God’s truth on behalf of my spouse, my sons, my daughter-in-law, my siblings and their children, my in-laws, my friends.

PRAYER

God, the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you for __________. As I have done since the day I heard about him/her, I have not stopped praying for them. I continually ask you, God, to fill them with the knowledge of your will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that they may live a life worthy of the Lord and please you in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that they may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to you, their Father, who has qualified them to share in the inheritance of your holy people in the kingdom of light. For you have rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son you love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Adapted from Colossians 1:3, 9-14 (NIV)