A Prayer Against Idolatry: Psalm 99-Supplication through the Scriptures

A Prayer Against Idolatry

Psalm 99

You shall have no other gods before Me.
Exodus 20:3

Idolatry. Idolatry is the worship of idols. To our modern minds, we may justify ourselves thinking this is one area we don’t falter. We have no shrines set up in our homes. We don’t have any small idol sitting on our mantle. We would never go to a temple or shrine and offer up prayers to a foreign deity. But idolatry can be more subtle and far more pervasive in our hearts than we first think.

John Calvin said that our hearts are a “perpetual factory of idols.” In other words, it’s not what lies outside of us that is the problem, but rather what lies inside of us that is the problem. “What do I long for so much that my heart clamors, ‘Give me this, or else I’ll die!’ What must I have for life to be meaningful or happy? If I answer that question with anything other than God Himself, then that’s what functions as a god for me” (Fitzpatrick). Our emotions, sinful habits, the ways we spend our time, and our pursuits can all be windows into our heart to help reveal what we truly treasure. Are we treasuring God above all else? Does He have first place in our lives, affections, thoughts, and will? He is worthy of it all. 

Psalm 99 is extolling the Lord. It is evident in the psalm that the psalmist is pointing the people to their great and awesome God. He is the God who reigns, is great, exalted, awesome, holy, loving justice, and establishing equity (99:1-5). He is the God who hears the prayers of His people and answers their cries for help. He forgives their sin and speaks to them through the testimonies and statutes that He has given them (99:6-9). He rules the world but must also reign in our hearts. Until the day we see Him face to face, we will need to constantly be on guard against anything that would seek to be first place. He must have the preeminence (Colossians 1:18). 

The command to “keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21) still stands for us today. Let’s pray through Psalm 99 that Christ would have first place in our hearts, and He would help us wage war against and remove any idolatry found in us. 

Holy is he!

99:1-5 The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he! The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he! 
Let’s pray:
▫️As the Lord is reigning and sits enthroned upon the cherubim, our Lord would be enthroned in our hearts as well. We would have nothing that rules our heart, except Christ. Is there an obvious desire in my heart that is causing me to feel that I  must have it in order to be happy or content? 
▫️The Lord would show us what we have exalted above Him in our hearts and our desires, and He would help us fight against our sinful lusts.
▫️As He is holy, we also would be holy in all our conduct and we would not be conformed to our former passions (1 Peter 1:14-16), but we would love Jesus with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. 
▫️We would count everything as loss and be willing to suffer the loss of all things, even _______, and count them as rubbish in order that we may gain Christ and be found in Him (Philippians 3:8-9). Knowing Him and being known by Him would be exceedingly valuable to us.
▫️The Lord would show us what we worship. He would work in us His great power in order to mold and shape our hearts to worship Him alone. 
▫️We would seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
▫️Our response to our Sovereign Lord would be trembling, praise, exultation, and worship. 

Exalt the Lord our God

99:6-9 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called upon his name. They called to the Lord, and he answered them. In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them; they kept his testimonies and the statute that he gave them. O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings. Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy!
Let’s pray:
▫️We would be counted among those who call upon the name of the Lord and trust in Him alone. Is there something we are trusting along with or instead of trusting the Lord alone?
▫️The Lord would use the times when our anxious thoughts multiply within us to reveal what we are treasuring too much, and He would help us to come boldly to His throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). 
▫️The Lord would work in us a heart of obedience submitting to His testimonies and statutes, because if we love Him we will keep His commandments (John 14:15). 
▫️We would confess our wayward, idolatrous heart and rejoice in God’s abundant forgiveness in Christ. 
▫️We would see the Lord’s holiness and be more aware of our idolatry and flee from it. 
▫️We would have a singular devotion to Christ, and He would have preeminence in our lives (Colossians 1:18).

May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 


Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All right reserved.


Photo credit to sohan_r

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Mother’s Longing

Image
A Mother’s Longing “…in your faith you are standing firm.” 2 Corinthians 1:24 It is not surprising that 3 John 4 is so often quoted by Christian parents in their deep desire for their children, “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (NASB). This is the deep longing of my heart as a mother. I want my children to truly know Christ, to walk in His ways, to love His Word, and to be committed to His church. I desire to be able to say to them, “in your faith you are standing firm” (2 Corinthians. 1:24). Am I being a faithful steward of my role as a Christian mother? Are my actions reflecting this deep desire to see my dearly loved children walking in the truth?  As we head into this new year, it is wise to both look back and look forward. The new year offers us many possibilities to grow and change and also to continue to persevere in the things that God, by His grace, has enabled us to carry out faithfully. If one of my deepest longings is to see ...
Read more

A Piercing that Drives Us to Our Knees

Image
A Piercing that Drives Us to Our Knees: to the mothers of the brokenhearted and the wandering Where there is a praying mother there is always hope. J.C.Ryle From the time our children are a positive line on a pregnancy test and then placed in our arms for the first time, our hearts as their mother are intricately intertwined with theirs. The first cry brings tears and joy, such inexpressible joy. And then they grow, and we love to see them exploring, learning, and developing their personalities. But the moment they come home having faced rejection for the first time, or they struggle with a mental illness that leaves us feeling deeply inadequate, or we get an email from the school that they’ve been caught cheating, each taste of sorrow and sin that they taste, we experience as well. The words spoken to Mary could be the gentle warning each mother must heed, “and a sword will pierce even your own soul”(Luke 2:35).  I’m not sure our children will understand until they become parents ...
Read more

Don’t Give Up, Mom: when mothering makes you weary

Image
  Don’t Give Up: when mothering makes you weary Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we never give up… 2 Corinthians 4:1 ESV, NLT Mothering can have seasons where weariness and discouragement lie right at the surface. Perhaps it’s a physically exhausting time, maybe spiritually you’re struggling or a child is, maybe it’s just busier than normal and it’s hard to juggle everything without feeling stressed out, or maybe it’s hard to even find a reason why you’re struggling. It can be so many little things, or big things and little things, and you just want to give up, even if only for a little while. You wish you could run away and rest, clear your mind and breathe. How can we faithfully persevere through motherhood, each of its season, and each season’s hardships?  As I studied 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, I wanted to see how Paul could say, “we never give up.” Studying this book, I have come to appreciate the tenacity of Paul and his steadfastness through so many diffic...
Read more