Praying for God’s Bounty
“GIMEL
Deal bountifully with thy servant,
that I may live, and keep thy word.
Open thou mine eyes,
that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”
Psalm 119:17, 18, KJV
*GIMEL=Reward, especially in regards to faith.
How did you begin 2023? Was it with a list of resolutions? A renewed hope? A prayer for the Lord’s bounty?
The Psalmist of 119 sought the Lord’s bounty in his life. I wonder what he considered to be bounty? The popular belief includes a bevy of material and physical blessings. These prayers aren’t wrong in themselves, if our motives are right before the Lord. But if our prayers begin and end with the material and physical requests that we may receive, we will find we have missed the most bountiful reward wrapped in faith.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is ,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6, KJV
When we seek God, we do so out of faith believing he will be found. He is our reward— more bountiful than all the material and physical treasures of this earth.
- Abraham knew this exceeding great reward (Genesis 15:1).
- Moses knew the value of this reward and chose to suffer rather than stay in Pharoah’s court (Hebrews 11:26).
- The persecuted look for their great reward in heaven and rejoice (Matthew 5: 11-12).
- When we seek our heavenly Father in prayer and in his word, we are promised he will be found. He will meet us there (Jeremiah 29:13 & Hebrews 4:16).
that I may live …
I have a notion the Psalmist wanted more than earthly treasures for his reward. I can’t prove it, but I believe he wanted to know God more, for in him is life. I think Paul may have recorded what the Psalmist’s desire included.
- “be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding:
- That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,
- being fruitful in every good work,
- and increasing in the knowledge of God:
- Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
- Giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:” Colossians 1: 9b-12, KJV
And the Psalmist knew the Lord would be found in the keeping of his word. We can ask to know God’s will, his wisdom, and spiritual understanding. We will find all these in knowing God—who is made known in his word. Through knowing God, we will—
- Find wisdom and spiritual understanding.
- Learn to walk worthy of the Lord and
- Learn how to please him.
- Never quit growing in the knowledge of God.
We can pray the Psalmist’s condensed version of Paul’s Colossian prayer and be confident in the answer.
“Open thou mine eyes,
that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”
Our heavenly Father will deal with us from his bounty, and will open our eyes for us to see wonderous things out of his word and bring them into our hearts. We will live the abundant life of Christ. Christ in us, is God the Son, our reward for now and forever.
Now in our prayer it’s time to give—
“thanks unto the Father,
which has made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:”
Won’t you join me in making these scriptures your prayer for today and the days the Lord gives us in 2023? Then we keep our eyes open and rejoice with thanksgiving in the bountifulness of the Father.
*Referenced from the online Blue Letter Bible.
Meeting Jesus With Donna Stearns 