Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help.
Psalm 30:10
Hear me! Here I am! Pay attention! Here I am!
I’ve done bad things. I’ve been wrong. Punishment would be fair. Can you ease it off? Cut me some slack? Don’t hurt me. Forgive me.
I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. I can’t do it alone. I can’t do it by myself. I need your help. I’m too weak, small, scared, whatever. I can’t do it by myself. You’re the one who can help me.
It’s a basic prayer. The kind a child can pray, the kind we can pray to our parent, our God. It solicits God’s attentiveness, so that we’re not overlooked, so that we will be heard, if God wills it. It solicits mercy. By asking for mercy, it acknowledges our wrongdoing, our sins, our trespasses. It wants for us that quality of mercy that we say God has. It solicits assistance. By that seeking, it recognizes our weakness, our inability to do it all, our failure at going it alone.
How do we respond when others ask the same of us?
Greg Davis
