Psalm 65: A Psalm of Personal Prayer Psalm 65:1-2

Text: “O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.” 

Psalm 65:2.

          “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” 

Jeremiah 33:3.

Good morning, personally praying Christian!  Not for you the ‘vain repetitions’ of mere, and often superstitious, religion.  No!  Your prayers are not formulated from some denominational ‘prayer book’, your prayers are true fellowship prayers, personal prayers, prayed from a heart (essence of being) that has been Spiritually made alive by God the Holy Ghost, and redeemed by the precious shed Blood of Jesus Christ.  Your prayers are the real deal prayers, that only a true and genuine adopted child of God can ever pray.  Praise God for personally praying Christians!

Hypocritical Prayers: “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men.  Verily (truly) I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.  Be ye not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth (knows, and continues to know) what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.”  (Matthew 6:5-8)

Any prayer that does not come from a personally presented opening of the heart in truth – is no real prayer at all.  The tongue can recite learned, or read, prayers (i.e. responses?); but such ‘vain repetitions’ go no further than the ceiling of whatever priest-house, or humanistic group room they are ‘prayed’ in.  Beware of false religion!  “Ye MUST be born again!”

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”  (Christ Jesus in John 3:6-7)

Our Heavenly Father, when we are born of His Spirit, already knows everything about us, our state, our circumstances, and our every need (not greed!).  Needs are met by His ever-giving hand – in His time and ordained portion.  He is Jehovah Jireh – ‘the Lord who seeth afar off, and continually provides.’

“O Lord Thou hast searched me, and known me.  Thou knowest (knows and continues to know at all times) my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandeth my thought afar off.  Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.”     (Psalm 139:1-4)

Honest Personal Prayer: “I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications.  Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of Hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.  Then called I upon the Name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul.”  (Psalm 116:1-4)

Can you and I fail to feel and to understand the sincerity of this God-inspired prayer?  Can we fail to understand that, in these verses from God’s Word, we find God the Holy Spirit teaching us both the earnestness of such personally prayed petitions to our Father, and the outcome of our praying personal prayers in the correct spirit of meekness, honesty, and true Christian belief?  See the outcome of the Psalmist’s sincere personal prayer:

“Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.  The Lord preserveth the simple (earnest, humble and sincere); I was brought low, and He helped me.  Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.  For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.”  (Psalm 116:5-8)

Such a gracious answer to all that the Psalmist earnestly prayed for!  What Sovereign and merciful grace from our Lord God!  Bless the Lord, oh my soul, for hearing, and answering, our personally formulated prayers!

Psalm 65: “This is a charming Psalm.  Coming after the previous sad ones it seems like the morning after the darkness of night.  There is a dewy freshness about it, and from the ninth verse to the end there is a sweet succession of landscape pictures that remind one of the loveliness of spring; and truly it is a description in natural figures, of that happy state of men’s minds, which will be the result of the ‘Day-Spring’s’ visiting us from on High.”  (Luke 1:7-8) (O. Prescott Hiller 1869)

Confession of Sin & Praise:  Personal prayer to the Lord God, should always be preceded, in my opinion, by first, a confession of sin to clear the path of prayer to a Holy Lord God; and then personal praise and worship of Him to Whom we are about to petition in prayer.  Sin blocks out our path to a Holy Lord.  Praise is due to the One to Whom we are about to pray.

“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: but verily (truly) God hath heard me; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer.  Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.”  (Psalm 66:18-20)

Verse 1. “Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion.  Those who have seen in Zion the Blood of sprinkling, and know themselves to belong to the church of the firstborn, can never think of her without presenting humble praise to Zion’s God…How inadequate are all mortal songs to proclaim the Divine goodness.”      (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 280)

The heart that cannot issue fervent praise to God, is a heart that knows nothing of His grace!  GRACE: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.  Hallelujah to the Worthy Lamb!

Verse 2. “O Thou that hearest prayer. This is Thy Name, Thy nature, Thy glory.  God not only has heard, but is now hearing prayer, and always must hear prayer, since He is an immutable (unchanging) Being and never changes in His attributes.  David evidently believed in a personal God and did not adore a mere idea or abstraction.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 280)

Verse 2. “Unto Thee shall all flesh come. To come to God is the life of true religion; we come weeping in conversion, hoping in supplication, rejoicing in praise, and delighting in service.  False gods must in due time lose their deluded votaries, for man when enlightened will no longer be fooled; but each one who tries the true God is encouraged by his own success to persuade others also, and so the kingdom of God comes to men, and men come to it.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 280)

Thought: Our sins are very personal sins – should we not offer to God personal prayers of repentance, praise, thanksgiving, and adoration?  Come, let us pray?