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¹ Out of the depths I cry to You, LORD;
² Lord, hear my voice.
Let Your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
³ If You, LORD, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with You there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve You.
⁵ I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
and in His word I put my hope.
⁶ I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
⁷ Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with Him is full redemption.
⁸ He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
~ Psalm 130

Given this is the last prayer note, I hope you will forgive me for making a few personal comments in this last one. I choose this psalm to end with because it describes beautifully the situation we have found ourselves in.

We cry out from the depths; we remember that God is merciful and forgiving; we wait for the Lord and put our hope in His word; He is the God of unfailing love, the God of redemption.  Our prayers are founded and based on these wonderful truths.  We don’t need prayer notes to keep praying.  My hope and prayer is that we will daily come before the throne of grace.

“Surely we are never sound in Christianity
until all the light that we receive be turned into love.”
~ Thomas Manton

Prayer Points

1. The World — There have been 279,798,604 cases of COVID-19 (up 5,103,498 — a 10% increase from last week), and 5,399,598 deaths of people with COVID-19 (up 45,288 — a 10% decrease).
The rise in cases is being driven by Europe, the US, South Korea and Australia.
Countries that were, at the beginning of the pandemic, disastrous (Brazil, India and others) now have the lowest cases. It is possible that this is because of the infamous herd immunity.
There are parts of India, for example, which have 99% of people with antibodies (even though only 20% are vaccinated).  COVID-19 is going to be with us for a long time. But it does seem as though Omicron will be the variant that moves it from being a pandemic to being endemic.

2. Australia — There have now been 301,960 cases (+51,232 — a 250% increase).

There are 1,055 (+267) people in hospital; 133 (+25) in ICU.
The rise in cases is not being seen by a similar rise in hospital cases.
There has also been a large increase in testing — to over 2,000,000.
People are now being urged NOT to get tested,
unless they have symptoms or are required by health officials to do so.
There are 66,914 active cases in Australia — up over 35,000.
The ‘covid zero’ states of Queensland, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and South Australia are now, like New South Wales and Victoria, learning to live with COVID-19.
Even Western Australia has had some local cases.
At some point, every area will get COVID-19, and according to the NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, everyone will at some point or other get COVID-19. Omicron is so mild in most people that they do not notice. As we finish these prayer notes, it is good that we can change from focusing on case numbers to focusing on whole health outcomes.

3. Vaccine and Cures — 4.52 billion people have received at least one dose — 58.9% of the population. Australia now has 80% with one dose, 78% with two doses and 7.8% triple.
It is now evident that the vaccines do not stop the spread of covid, nor do they prevent people from getting it. However, they do prevent people falling seriously ill.
The vast majority of people in Western nations in ICU are unvaccinated.
A concern for Christians should be the vaccine injustice throughout the world.
Rich nations like Australia have purchased far in excess of their needs (Australia has 160 million doses for 25 million people), while poorer nations cannot afford to give even one dose to all their people.

4. Church — Covid has been a shaking and a wake-up call for the Church.
We have yet to see the complete fallout – and it varies from area to area.
Pray that the Lord’s people would be renewed in their love and commitment for Christ and His Church.

5.  Personal and Family — All of us have our personal stories.  For me, covid meant that I was not able to be with my father when he died, my daughter when she married and my son when his family was blessed with a baby girl. Work was more than disrupted. At times, it felt like I was imprisoned in the largest (and nicest) prison in the world! But many others have suffered much more — those who have lost loved ones, those who have lost jobs and livelihoods, those for whom the pain of separation has been more than they can bear. Covid has once again taught us about the importance of good, strong, healthy, biblical family units.

A Prayer of Repentance

Lord, forgive us for our impatience — when we do not wait on You.
Forgive us when we do not listen, when we forget Who You are, when we neglect Your Word.
Lord, You have promised that You will redeem us from all our sins — if we confess them.
Grant us that spirit of true confession, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Song

This is a great version of Psalm 130, combining the traditional Scottish tune with the Getty’s contemporary version:

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Our Father in Heaven,
hallowed be Your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the power, the kingdom and the glory. Amen.

In Conclusion

When I started doing the ‘19@1900 prayers’ almost two years ago, I did not anticipate that this would continue for such a long time. It has been my privilege to share this journey with you.
Of course, we continue to pray. Most of all, we pray for a revival and renewal in Australia and throughout the world.

One of the changes that has occurred in my ministry (like many others) because of COVID-19 is the increased use of video. If any of you are interested, I produce a daily five-minute meditation entitled ‘Coffee with Job’, and a weekly one entitled ‘The Romans 8 Road to Hope’.
You can access these on my YouTube channel. Here is the latest —

The Lord bless you and keep you,
the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace.
~ Numbers 6:24-26

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Weekly devotions by David Robertson via Christians United — COVID19 Call to Prayer.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels.