Psalm 61
This psalm is a model of the kind of trust in God every saint needs. Also included is a model prayer for help to continue that trust. The psalmist expresses how his past experience with God has inspired his trust now. He adds the simple prayer for continued blessing. It's a psalm of experience – life's experiences with God always lead to more assurance.
This psalm could certainly be a prayer with which each of us could begin our day. In paraphrasing the psalmist, we would say something like, "Lord, I'm going to be in difficult places today, but, Lord, I've been blessed by You over all my years. I pray You'll help me to continue to trust You, that You'll continue to bless me and teach me, and that the blessing will continue all the days of my life and until I come to You at last!"
The point is that in every aspect of our lives, during each and every day, we can only really be successful through God's strength and wisdom. And our lives therefore will also finally bring glory to Him alone. We might be reminded of our Lord's words in the model prayer He taught His disciples. He said, "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever." He just meant that, since we're living in His kingdom, and since we're living by His power, and since His shall be the glory forever, why then it's in His interest to keep us during every moment of that life.
We could well summarize this psalm: "God cares about this hour – let's Keep looking up!"
in verse 8 NCV it says " Then i will praise your name forever, and every day I will keep my promises"
How many times we fail to keep our promises to God. I know I fail daily. Every time I pray I have to ask forgivenss for the sins I have commited and and those I have omitted. One thing that never fails is that I forget to pray over my food. I know it is a small thing but still to me it is sin. How gracious is our God, when we come to him in all our failures and wearing filthy rags.He picks us up and washes us off as clean as the white of snow.
What a good comparison--between the Lord's Prayer and the prayer included in this Psalm.
One more reason for calling it, not "The Lord's Prayer," but "The Disciples' prayer."
That's so true.
When did it first start to be called "The Lord's Prayer", Alan?
That's a good question. I have no answer.