I am poor and needy

A prayer and reflection on Psalm 40

O Lord my God, I am poor and needy. Remember me and forget not my needs, my desires, for they are aspirations that are all for you and for your body, for your glory and your people’s good. You are my only true help and deliverer. In you alone I trust! Upon you I wait for my deliverance; O Lord, do not delay!

I seek you in thy Word, Father, and not in the vain pleasures of the world. Vanity is deceiving, but I know that you search my inner most being. You search my heart and my soul, and may you find within only an earnest zeal for knowing you. May I find joy and happiness in your person; may you give freely the person of your Son. For He alone has paid the price for which I could not pay, for the sins and transgressions of my hands, that I may be counted righteous in your sight. I rejoice because I can call you “Father”, and you call me “Beloved, my son”. But if it was not for your one and only begotten Son, such would not be possible.