April 24th - The Divine Deliverer

The Divine Deliverer

(Psalm 86; 88; 91; 95; 108 and 109

As a poet and writer, I simply love the Psalms. Of course, Hebrew poetic forms can be quite different from our modern poetic structures. Much of the beauty of the ancient poetic lines may be missed in translation, although the words still speak eloquently and aesthetically to the ready listener.

The acrostic is a classic form of ancient Hebrew poetry, which is still practiced by poets today. In an acrostic, the first letter of each line may be extracted to spell out a significant word. The initial acrostic word is usually the overriding theme of the acrostic poem.

Several of the Psalms include acrostics. Among these are Psalm 9, Psalm 10, Psalm 25, Psalm 34, Psalm 37, Psalm 111, Psalm 112, Psalm 119 and Psalm 145.

Today, let’s look at Psalm 86, loosely paraphrased into an acrostic poem and voiced as a prayer to our divine Deliverer.

Will you pray with me?

Deliverer, I depend on You, for apart from You I cannot survive.

Everlasting is Your love, and unending is Your mercy.

Listen to my plea, O Lord, as I cry out to You in my time of trouble.

In all the world, there is no one like You. Nothing compares to Your great glory.

Validate my faith in You, most holy Lord, and teach me to obey Your truth, so I may live in Your light with no regrets.

Envious attackers assail me, and callous ones seek to topple my faith, but I trust in You.

Remember me, God, in Your faithfulness, and guard my life in Your grace.

Empower me to stand, and rescue me from evil, as you push back the powers of darkness.

Remind me of Your kindness and goodness, and comfort me in Your love, for I rest in You.

Amen.

Click here to read “How to Write an Acrostic Poem,” if you would like to try your own hand at acrostic poetry. Click on the word “acrostic” anywhere in this blog entry to read acrostic poetry examples.

Affirming today’s devotional theme, here’s “My Deliverer,” written by Rich Mullins and performed by D.C. Talk:

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Responding to these blog prompts:

Inspire Me Thursday (“push”)

Meme Express (Friday Freedom – writer’s choice)

Poetic Asides (April P.A.D. Challenge - "regret")

Read Write Poem (NaPoWriMo)

Totally Optional Prompts (poem/s inspired by quotes)