Change Me, Help Others

Hear my prayer, O God;
    listen to the words of my mouth.                                                                              Psalm 54:2

How often can we summarize how we pray into something like the following – “Lord help me, and Lord, change those who are causing pain and hurt”. Nothing wrong with asking God for help, and nothing wrong with praying for changes that may be helpful in the world. But such praying might also kind of miss the mark.

I was thinking the other day, what if we reversed the prayer- “Lord, help others, and change me”. I think that we essentially pray in order to have God help change our own thinking about situations. We also pray in intercession for others. We do not have control over the behavior of others, but we can ask God to help them. We can also ask God to change our own attitudes about things.

So, like so many other things in the spiritual realm, when we think somewhat contrary to our conventional considerations, we get a new perspective of how God works. So, instead of “Lord, help me and change others”, we pray “Lord, change me, and help others”.

Prayer: Lord, change me and help others, Amen