gladness in your heart

“You have put gladness in my heart….” — Psalm 4

I continue to appreciate working through the Psalms each day in prayer, with Eugene Peterson as my prayer partner. Last night it was Psalm 4, which is filled with such remarkable promise —

You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine
abound.
I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, Yahweh, make me
lie down in safety. (vv.7-8)

And then Eugene’s penetrating ponderings…

The scattered experiences of the day — distress, indignation, trust, devotion, threat — are assembled in prayer and laid before God, after which the psalmist simply turns over and goes to sleep, joyfully and peacefully.

---

PRAYER: God of all beginnings and all endings, I bring all my unfinished business to you-every-thing that I started and couldn't finish, all that I began but lost interest in, all that I began in hope and quit in despair. Make finished work of all of it, by your grace. Amen.