76.4 The Lord Helps Those Who Do Good

(Psalm 80)

Listen to us, O Shepherd of Israel;
hear us, leader of your flock.
Seated on your throne above the winged creatures,
reveal yourself to the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Show us your strength; come and save us!

Bring us back, o God!
Show us your mercy , and we will be saved!

How much longer, Lord God Almighty,
will you be angry with your people's prayers?
You have given us sorrow to eat,
a large cup of tears to drink.
You let the surrounding nations
fight over our land; our enemies insult us.

Bring us back, Almighty God!
Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

You brought a grapevine out of Egypt;
you drove out other nations and planted it in their land.
You cleared a place for it to grow;
its roots went deep, and it spread out over the whole land.
It covered the hills with its shade;
its branches overshadowed the giant cedars.
It extended its branches to the Mediterranean Sea
and as far as the Euphrates River.
Why did you break down the fences around it?
Now anyone passing by can steal its grapes;
wild hogs trample it down, and wild animals feed on it.

Turn to us, Almighty God!
Look down from heaven at us;
come and save your people!
Come and save this grapevine that you planted,
this young vine you made grow so strong!

Our enemies have set it on fire and cut it down;
look at them in anger and destroy them!
Preserve and protect the people you have chosen,
the nation you made so strong.
We will never turn away from you again;
keep us alive, and we will praise you.

Bring us back, Lord God Almighty.
Show us your mercy, and we will be saved.

76.3 Stephen Prays For His Killers

(Acts 7:54-60)

As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God. "Look!" he said. "I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!"

With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!" He said this and died.

76.2 Samuel Prays For Forgiveness Of Sins

(1 Samuel 7:2-6)

The Covenant Box of the Lord stayed in Kiriath Jearim a long time, some twenty years. During this time all the Israelites cried to the Lord for help.

Samuel said to the people of Israel, "If you are going to turn to the Lord with all your hearts, you must get rid of all the foreign gods and the images of the goddess Astarte. Dedicate yourselves completely to the Lord and worship only him, and he will rescue you from the power of the Philistines." So the Israelites got rid of their idols of Baal and Astarte, and worship only the Lord.

Then Samuel called for all the Israelites to meet at the Mizpah, telling them, "I will pray to the Lord for you there." So they all gathered at Mizpah. They drew some water and poured it out as an offering to the Lord and fasted that whole day. They said, "We have sinned against the Lord." (It was a Mizpah where Samuel settled disputed among the Israelites.)

76.1 Moses Asks For Pardon

(Numbers 14:11-20)

The Lord said to Moses, "How much longer will these people reject me? How much longer will they refuse to trust in me, even though I have performed so many miracles among them? I will send an epidemic and destroy them, but I will make you the father of a nation that is larger and more powerful than they are!"

But Moses said to the Lord, "You brought these people out of Egypt by your power. When the Egyptians hear what you have done to your people, they will tell it to the people who live in this land. These people have already heard that you, Lord, are with us, that you appear in plain sight when your cloud stops over us, and that you go before us in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Now if you kill all your people the nations who have heard of your fame will say that you killed your people in the wilderness because you were not able to bring them into the land you promised to give them. So now, Lord, I pray, show us your power and do what you promised when you said, 'I, the Lord, am not easily angered, and I show great love and faithfulness and forgive sin and rebellion. Yet I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.' And now, Lord, according to the greatness of your unchanging love, forgive, I pray, the sin of these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt."

The Lord answered, "I will forgive them, as you have asked.