This resolution of Daily United Prayer is based on An Humble Attempt, originally put forward by Jonathan Edwards in 1748. Its design is to encourage God's people in the duty of united extraordinary prayer; setting aside some time every day to pray for the revival of His church and the advancement of Christ's kingdom in our homes, in our churches, in our nation, and in the world.
"Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death." Psalm 13:3.
This was my prayer this morning. A prayer for God to "hear me." The actual petition is to "lighten mine eyes." What does this mean? It's helpful when we read on to see what the Psalmist contrasts this phrase with, "lest I sleep the sleep of death." If his eyes are not lightened, he would sleep the "sleep of death." This reminded me of the passage in 1 Sam 14:27 when Jonathan took some honey to his mouth after being so faint with hunger and "his eyes were enlightened."
What happens to us when we grow weary without the reviving influence of the Lord? Our eyes grow heavy. We enter into a track of apathy, indifference, and lethargy about the things of God. We enter into a sleep-like state—the sleep of death. A sleep where we are no longer seeing advance in God's kingdom in our lives, in our churches, or in our families. It's a slumbering that is not much better than death itself. Isn't that the way we can feel sometimes if we're honest? We enter into this mode where we just don't care anymore. We just want to please ourselves and live unto ourselves. We stop deep-diving into the Word. We stop closing the door of our closets in prayer. We may still attend church, but effectively we are "checked out." We watch what we want to watch, we listen to what we want to listen to, we eat what we want to eat. It's an awful place to be when we live like this. But thankfully, it's a sleep of death and not death itself—for a sleeping man can be awakened. We must pray that God will send an awakening, "lighten our eyes," and revive our spirits.
O Lord! Consider and hear me. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Revive my spirit. Keep me awake to the things of eternity. And strengthen me with that honey out of the rock—namely, the Word. Amen.
DAILY UNITED PRAYER unitedprayer.net
Mon-Fri @ 12pm EDT // Sat @ 10am EDT
We invite you to join our dedicated and earnest group of praying participants of all ages from around the world that meet every day over Zoom to pray. At the start of each prayer call, a different individual will bring a brief Scriptural meditation. Here's the most recent: