My friend Lynn Lusby Pratt loves Jesus and loves God’s word. She’s an excellent editor and a creative, prolific writer too. (Check out her site Deep, Dark, and Funny.) This guest post is adapted from one of Lynn’s many published articles.
Psalm 23 woke me up.
Groggy, for I had slept badly, I tried to rise up on one elbow. Before I was even conscious of having a thought, I found myself thinking, Psalm 23.
Giving in to the lethargy I felt, I lay back down. In the 5 a.m. stillness, I whispered, “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He . . .”
Something didn’t seem right. Maybe the part about still waters came first.
I started over several times but could not get past the green pastures. Then I noticed a different emphasis: “He makes me lie down.”
I sighed. How wonderful that would be, if the Lord would make me lie down in green pastures. My need for rest and comfort began to turn into a dreamy hope.
Lying down in green pastures. I could almost feel the breeze combining with the warm sun to cause goosebumps. I smelled the alfalfa field of my childhood and saw monarch butterflies.
Make me. Usually a phrase of defiance, isn’t it? But over a period of several weeks, I turned the “He makes me” of Psalm 23 into a “make me” prayer: Make me lie down, Lord. Make me lie down in the green pastures of your care.
And I wondered. What else might the Lord make me do or what kind of person make me be if I would allow him?
Exodus 31:13 (and others). “I am the Lord, who makes you holy.”
Make me holy.
1 Samuel 2:6. “The Lord brings death and makes alive.”
Make me alive.
Job 36:10. “He makes them listen to correction.”
Make me listen to correction.
2 Corinthians 1:21 (and 1 Peter 5:10). “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.”
Make me stand firm.
Psalm 4:8. “You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”
Make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 7:9. “O righteous God . . . make the righteous secure.”
Make me secure.
Psalm 90:15. “Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us.”
Make me glad.
Psalm 119:98. “Your commands make me wiser than my enemies.”
Make me wise.
Matthew 4:19. “I will make you fishers of men.”
Make me a fisherman.
1 Thessalonians 3:12. “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other.”
Make my love increase.
1 Samuel 12:22. “The Lord was please to make you his own.”
Make me your own.
I hope these prayers strike you with the same awe they did me. I have prayed them over and over. And I’ve learned to close my prayers with Psalm 95:6. “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”
Make me, Lord.