Prayer as story, evidence, and honor

On this Veteran’s Day, we remember the men and women who serve our country as the people of Israel remembered their leaders and how God worked in their lives. This unique relationship set them apart as a special people whom the LORD guided, protected, and blessed as they remained true to God. May we, too, be faithful and true and blessed.

Then the spiritual leaders called out
to the people and said:

Stand up
and praise the Lord your God,
Who lives forever and ever!

Then they prayed:
May Your glorious name be praised
for You are far higher than every
praise and blessing.

You alone, O Lord, made the skies, the heavens, the stars.
You alone made the earth and seas and everything in them.
You alone preserve Your creation,
and the heavenly powers worship You alone.

You, the Lord God, chose Abram and brought him from Ur of the Chaldeans and renamed him Abraham. When he proved faithful, You made a covenant with him and his descendants… and You have done what You promised, for You alone remain true to Your word.

You alone saw the misery of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cries beside the Red Sea.

You alone performed miracles, signs, and wonders to thwart Pharaoh and his people, who mistreated our ancestors, and Your glorious name has never been forgotten.

You alone divided the sea for Your people, and they alone walked on dry land as their enemies sank like stones beneath the mighty waters.

You alone led by a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, so our ancestors could find their way.

When You came down from heaven, You spoke to Your people at Mount Sinai, giving just laws and instructions, giving good decrees and commands.

You instructed Your people to remember Your holy day of rest, and, through Moses Your servant, told what we need to know to obey You alone.

You gave bread from heaven to appease hunger and water from the rock to ease thirst.

You commanded Your people to go take possession of the land You had sworn to give them, and yet, our ancestors paid no attention to Your sound teachings. They refused to obey and did not remember the miracles You had done for them but instead became stubborn, appointing a leader to return them to the slavery they had known.

But You are a God who forgives
with grace and mercy,
slow to anger but fast
in unfailing love.

You did not abandon Your people, even when they made an idol shaped like a calf and proclaimed the thing a god!
Oh, what terrible blasphemies!

But You in Your great mercy
did not abandon them to die in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud still led by day, and the pillar of fire by night.

You sent your good Spirit to instruct Your people, and You continued to give manna from heaven and water for thirst. For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, and nothing did they lack. Even their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.

You helped our ancestors overcome kingdoms and nations, and You placed Your people in every corner of the land.... You multiplied their descendants as numerous as stars in the sky and brought them into the land as You had promised. You subdued whole nations before them. Even the Canaanites, who lived there were powerless when Your people subdued nations and kings. Our ancestors seized fortified cities and lush land. They took over houses filled with good things and found cisterns already dug and an abundance of vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees.

And they ate until full,
and they prospered,
and Your people delighted
in every bountiful blessing
given by You alone.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler prayer-a-phrased today’s Daily Bible Reading in Nehemiah 9:5-25 after searching scripture in a variety of translations provided online by BibleGateway.com.

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