In Isaiah Chapter 33 we find a marvelous prayer from the lips of the prophet:

:2 “O YHWH, be gracious to us; we have waited for You. Be their (our) strength every morning.”

When we break this verse down into phrases we see several things that can help guide us to pray for a personal prayer request, or for someone we know who needs God’s grace in a particular situation:

— “O YHWH be gracious.”  What we need from God is GRACE.  We are not asking for what we “deserve.”  We don’t want Him to reward us because we have prayed 6 hours, or because we haven’t committed that sin we usually fall prey to, etc. No, we admit that we — or those we are praying for — don’t deserve it, but we are asking Him to be gracious anyway.

— “we have waited for YOU.”  Our only hope is in God. We don’t have the answer, and no one else does either. It is God whom we need to answer us, and our hope is focused on Him.

— “Be their strength” (the Hebrew may read “our”)  We need God to strengthen us or our loved ones in the trial we face.

— and we need Him to do that for us “EVERY MORNING.” Each morning anew, we need new strength from God: just like we need sleep, and breakfast, so we need strength from God every new morning.  Thankfully, just as His word says, He does indeed have mercies that are “new every morning” for us! (Lamentations 3:23)

This is yet another verse that it would be very profitable for us to meditate on, memorize, and learn to pray for ourselves and for our loved ones:

— Be gracious to us

— We have waited for You

— Be our (their) strength

— Every morning!