March 15
The world is bleeding, your sin makes you groan, you’re restless for the Day when Jesus renews all things. Maybe “Your kingdom come” is a prayer you’ve adopted.
I mentioned last week that I’ve been thinking more about the kingdom and praying for it to come soon.
But my study of Psalm 119 has me asking, Why?
For the Psalmist, that prayer was propelled by godly grief and righteous anger:
“My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law” (Ps. 119:136).
“My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget your words” (Ps. 119:139).
“It is time for the Lord to act, for your law has been broken” (Ps. 119:126)
He wept. He longed. He shook his fists. Because God’s holy Word was blasphemed and forgotten.
Is that what makes you pray for Christ’s kingdom? Or does suffering wring it out of you? Do you only yearn for heaven when life catapults you into discomfort or pain?
I tend to.
The Psalmist is teaching me something different— that “real Christian experience is not occasional forays into the world of prayer, but a life shaped by longing for the future, the cry, ‘Your kingdom come.’”*
The world is bleeding from sin and that’s why we plead God’s promise: “Surely, I am coming soon” (Rev. 22:20).
*Christopher Ash, Bible Delight, (Christian Focus Publications: Scotland, GB, 2008), 176
bethanyjmelton.com 
I can picture your neighborhood through your writing, as I have enjoyed it many times during my visits. I know your family is working through this hard time together, and are paying, with me, for God’s guidance in our world. Love you all so much!
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