What do we pray for? We pray for lots of important things: for God to meet our needs, for healing, for guidance, for protection and for family and friends. But the Bible also contains prayers for other things.
Today’s verse says: “Let my cry come before You, O Lord; Give me understanding according to Your word.”
This is not a prayer for physical help and protection but a prayer for spiritual understanding from the word of God. Why? Because the only way to have true understanding and true wisdom is from the Word of God. God reveals Himself to us in His word. We come to know who He is and what He is like through His word and that is the greatest knowledge of all (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
Here are some examples of the understanding God gives us through His word:
- The scriptures make us wise for salvation – they show us how to be saved (2 Timothy 2:15).
- We were born again through the living and abiding word of God (1 Peter 1:23).
- The word of God makes us wiser than our enemies (Psalm 119:98).
- The word of God gives us understanding more than wisdom gained through education or old age (Psalm 119:99-100).
We have different physical and material needs but we all have the need for spiritual understanding. Let’s pray Psalm 119:169 today: “Give me understanding according to Your word.”
The best is yet to come 