A Prayer for a Good Day at Work — sacred illustration
✶ Our Bible Moments No. 206 / 253

Work & Provision

A Prayer for a Good Day at Work

Psalm 90:17

Psalm 90:17 is the closing line of the psalm titled “A prayer of Moses the man of God,” in which Moses, after facing how brief life is, asks God’s favor to rest on His people and to establish the work of their hands.

Lord, as I start work today, let Your favor rest on me. Establish the work of my hands. Give me focus for the tasks in front of me, patience with the people around me and wisdom for the problems I can’t see coming. Help me do my work well and honestly. And when the day is done, let something I did today last, because You were in it. Amen.

Psalm 90:17 is the closing line of the psalm titled “A prayer of Moses the man of God,” in which Moses, after facing how brief life is, asks God’s favor to rest on His people and to establish the work of their hands.

The Scripture

“May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish for us the work of our hands—yes, establish the work of our hands!”

— Psalm 90:17

Prayer points from Psalm 90:17

  1. Ask for the favor of the Lord your God to rest on you today.
  2. Name the main tasks ahead and ask Him to establish them.
  3. Pray for your coworkers, your boss and the people you serve.
  4. Ask for focus, patience and honest work.
  5. Pray about the part of your work that worries you most.
  6. Thank God for the work you have and the skills He has given you.

About this verse

Psalm 90 is honest about work and time. Moses writes that our days pass quickly, that “we finish our years with a sigh,” and that even our best years are labor and sorrow and soon gone. Much of what we build can feel as if it might blow away. So the psalm ends with a plea, said twice: “establish for us the work of our hands—yes, establish the work of our hands!” To establish something is to make it firm and lasting. Before that request comes another: “May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us.” The work matters, but God’s favor comes first. These words fit an ordinary workday: emails, meetings, deliveries, shifts, patients, classrooms and spreadsheets. Any of it can be offered to God, with a request that it last. This prayer is for anyone heading into a day at work who wants God’s favor on it.

When to pray this prayer

More prayers for work & provision

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