A prayer for election week

“To You I lift up my eyes,
O You who are enthroned in the heavens!
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the LORD our God,
Until He is gracious to us.
Be gracious to us, O LORD, be gracious to us.” (Ps. 123:1–3a)

Lord, as we come to worship this morning, we look to you for your grace.  We admit we are needful of your grace.  And that we are impotent to provide what we need for ourselves.  We are prone to giving up on You and your grace and seeking our provision elsewhere.  We look to our spouses and children and parents and our work and bank accounts and our knowledge and education and books and our position and status in life to provide us what we need.  Forgive us of our arrogance and foolish pride.  And give us resolve to live as the psalmist lived:  “Our eyes look to the Lord our God until He is gracious to us.”  Cause us to live dependently on your grace each moment of each day.

This psalm is an appropriate introduction to prayer for this week, because this week we will also be tempted to seek provision and comfort and rest in a political candidate.  We will be tempted to be hopeful if our party or candidate wins and we will be tempted to despair and be hopeless if our candidate or party loses.  So on Tuesday as we vote and on Wednesday as we reflect on the outcome, keep us looking to you as the source of our grace and hope.

As we think about this week, we want to pray and think in biblical ways.  So we ask these things:

• As Jesus taught us to pray, we ask that your will would be accomplished on earth, even as it is in Heaven.  We know you are sovereign.  We know that no man ascends to any throne or position of power except that you have put him there.  And we know that no man is supreme over your power.  Like Nebuchadnezzar, you still appoint the length of each man’s rule and the effectiveness of his rule.  So we ask that on Tuesday, your sovereignty would be evident in the results of the election, and we also ask that you would give us hearts that would rest in you for the results of that election.
• We also pray for the rulers who are and will be over us.  We pray with thankfulness for these rulers.  They are the individuals you have wisely appointed to be over us.  They are what we and this country need for this time to accomplish your purposes, so we are grateful for them all.
• We pray that you would be kind to give these leaders wisdom.  Give them discernment to know truth from error and that they would also know truth from almost truth and that they would be consistent in doing what you have called them to do — punish evildoers and reward those who do good.  Cause them to write godly laws and uphold the things that are right and true.
• We pray that you would use these days in our leaders’ lives to also bring them to a knowledge of the Savior.  Keep these leaders from believing that their position and leadership are ultimate, and make them to submit to the One who is ultimate, Jesus Christ.  Bring them to repentance and saving faith in Jesus Christ.
• And finally, Lord, we also ask that you would give us a desire and willingness to submit to our leaders and to be obedient to the Laws they decree for us and to be ready to do every kind of good deed, working alongside them — to protect righteousness and punish wickedness — as much as we can.  It is in our flesh not to want to submit.  Make us humble in these days to follow their leadership as an example of our submission to you.

All of these requests are a reminder again of our need for your grace.  So again, “make our eyes look to you, the LORD our God, until You are gracious to us.”  Keep us looking to you as the source of our grace and hope.

We pray this in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen