An Urgent Request

“O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity!” Psalm 118:25

An Urgent Request

Beseech – Not often, but important.  Only eleven times is the word annah used in the Old Testament.  Only three times in the Psalms.  But it is an important word because it expresses the emotional intensity and urgency for a request.  When Joseph’s brothers beg his forgiveness for their attempt to kill him, they use the word annah.  When Moses pleads with God to forgive the sin of the Israelites, annah is the cry of his heart.  When Hezekiah prays for his life, annah is on his lips.  Jonah, Nehemiah, Daniel and Isaiah express their heartfelt intensity with this word.  Its history is formidable.

And then there is David’s request in Psalm 118.  David pleads with God to send prosperity.  This is not a casual mention of assistance with plans.  It is not a call for God to help out with the project.  This is begging God to do what only God is able to do:  bring victory!

Did you imagine that the destiny of your plans or your life was up to you?  Did you think that “making it” depended on your efforts alone?  David sees the truth of the matter.  Prosperity, victory does not belong to the strong but rather to the humble.  Success is achieved on our knees before the sovereign God.  Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers toil in vain.

How urgently have you made your request for prosperity, for victory or for success?  How fervently have you pleaded with God about these matters?  Have you been seduced by a culture that propagates the myth of self-reliance?  Are you a victim of the lie that God helps those who help themselves?

Today you will face the issue of accomplishment.  You have two choices.  You can go forward in your own skill, effort and creativity.  Or you can drop to your face in front of the Almighty God and beg His favor.  If God is, then He is certainly God over your plans and hopes and dreams.  Have you sought Him urgently?