Psalm 145: The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him

Psalm 145
(A psalm of praise.  Of David.)

¹I will extol thee, my God, O king;
      and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
²Every day will I bless thee;
      and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

³Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
      and his greatness is unsearchable.
⁴One generation shall praise thy works to another,
      and shall declare thy mighty acts.
⁵I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty,
      and of thy wondrous works.
⁶And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts:
      and I will declare thy greatness.
⁷They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness,
      and shall sing of thy righteousness.

⁸The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion;
      slow to anger, and of great mercy.

⁹The LORD is good to all:
      and his tender mercies are over all his works.
¹⁰All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD;
      and thy saints shall bless thee.
¹¹They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom,
      and talk of thy power;
¹²To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts,
      and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
¹³Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
      and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

¹⁴The LORD upholdeth all that fall,
      and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
¹⁵The eyes of all wait upon thee;
      and thou givest them their meat in due season.
¹⁶Thou openest thine hand,
      and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷The LORD is righteous in all his ways,
      and holy in all his works.
¹⁸The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him,
      to all that call upon him in truth.
¹⁹He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him:
      he also will hear their cry, and will save them.
²⁰The LORD preserveth all them that love him:
      but all the wicked will he destroy.
²¹My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD:
      and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Often, when I view these psalms I see the "fallen" as the psalmist (David) here in verse 14 discusses as being addicts.  The same is true for verses 18 and 19, for the followers that reach out and cry out to the Lord, again as being addicts.  Unfortunately, the problems that addicts create are not restricted to themselves.  As addicts we involve other victims - more often than not the people we love and cherish the most.  More often than not these people in our lives have a much better perspective on our addictions and problems.  So, it goes that they are the most likely to be calling upon God.  So, today's prayer is for the victims of addicts, of which there are many who suffer silently often in a battle with an addict unwilling to see the reality of their ways.

Today, Lord, I pray for the victims of addicts.  For the ones we love the most are also the ones that we hurt the most in our addictions.  We steal from them; steal their money, steal their time, and abuse their love.  We spend money on addictions, when it is needed to support the ones we love.  We spend time in our addictions, when what we really need is to spend time with the ones we love.  Lord, may you hold up our victims.  Give them the strength they need to face the problems, which we, the addicts, create.  Help the addicts in their lives find a path to recovery - for the sake of the victims.  These loved ones in our lives grow weary of our addict nature, our dishonesty, our secrets, and our stealing.  Be their rocks and help their relationships be recovered.  Restore the trust and the faith that is needed for these relationships to be strong.  Both with You and with each other.  God be with them and be with all of us.  In Your name I pray - Amen.

Thanks for letting me share.