Going
into a new year is both frustrating and fun. It’s always fun anticipating what
the year has in store. Frustration comes from knowing that if we do this year
the same as we did last year, we will get the same result.
Mature
Christians often have a difficulty knowing what they should be; and knowing
what they are not. For some, this spurs them on to greater effort and greater
achievement. For others it becomes a recipe for disaster. They see their own
limitations and give up trying. On occasions I’ve been in both places.
There
is an additional complication which we come across in certain Christian
circles. People say, “God told me this” or “God told me that”. Unfortunately we
have no other witness to this ‘fact’ so we are not in a position to either
support or reject the claim. But the comment is useful to use because it puts
the speaker beyond human correction. After all, if God did tell them that, I
daren’t contradict it. So we tend to look at people who make such claims with
great suspicion. However, time will tell whether the statement was true or
false.
Reading
the first 3 verses gives me the impression that King David was familiar with
this difficulty. A Psalm of David. 1
O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to
my voice when I call to you! 2 Let
my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as
the evening sacrifice! 3 Set a
guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! Psalm 141:1-3 ESV
With
the exception of King Jesus, David was the greatest king Israel has ever seen.
Yet, here is this king who has a heart after God, admitting to his own
shortcomings. I suppose we could paraphrase this verse by saying. “Lord, please
help me to stop lying!” In verse one, we read of this same king asking God to
hear His prayer. Could it be that he had the same problems we do? It gives me
great comfort to know that he experienced times when it seemed that the heaven
was like brass. I know it too well. David was a sinner. His illicit
relationship with Bathsheba and the arranged murder of Uriah confirms this. But
God never abandoned him.
So
when my head swells with uninhibited pride, it’s a blessing to know that either
I will correct myself, or He will correct me. Furthermore, it helps me know
that regardless of how bad I have been, forgiveness is not beyond reach. I don’t
know about you, but I find this very comforting. I know I should never compare
myself with another; but it’s good to understand that even at my lowest point I’m
not beyond His salvation and His grace.
The
meditation today looks at some of the problems we all have with prayer.
Fortunately, He has the solution even for people like you and me.
Blessings
Jim & Phyllida Strickland.
Resurrection Life
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Each time that you are praying, do
thoughts invade your mind?
Is prayer to you a burden, a deep
unwanted bind?
Is contacting the Saviour beyond all
you can see?
Then I have got good news for you; for
you are just like me.
I’ve never found it easy in truth it’s
very hard.
I feel I’d like to go and play in
someone else’s yard.
So we rely on systems to keep our
spirits quiet.
When what we’re really needing is a
spiritual riot.
Something we can cling to, to help us
get it right,
And really serve the Master without
some inner fight.
Is this a bad confession? Should I
hide this away?
But all that I can murmur is, “Lord teach
me to pray.”
I know I’m not alone in this. I know
my friends complain
That they would like to pray to You in
ways that don’t seem vain.
And yet there’s great encouragement
when answers come along.
We know the time’s not wasted and
prayer is never wrong!
The problem is our senses. We think
that we should feel
A sort of dynamism, which makes the
Saviour real!
We should be filled with power to set
the world alight.
Instead there’s empty nothingness for
we can’t get it right.
O Lord, I hate this struggle. It seems
I cannot win.
And since these words are faithless, I
know that they are sin.
But Lord I’m tired of trying; I cannot
bear the mask
That covers my hypocrisy when prayer
is just a task.
So Lord as we go into the year which
lies ahead,
Father, work a miracle and raise me
from the dead.
Help me know your presence in spite of
how I feel.
Teach me that sensations are not what
make things real.
I know that You can do it. Please let
my prayers ascend
Like fragrant clouds of incense, of
which there is no end.
You’ve said that we can do it. To pray
and never cease.
Perhaps all I am needing, is some form
of release.
The freedom to engage with You in
way’s I’ve never known.
The way the Bible indicates is what
You’ll surely own.
An inner transformation that causes us
to be
The essence of what we should know in
Christianity.
Not some mumbo jumbo of raising up a
storm.
But where a right relationship is
constantly the norm.
For working the miraculous for You is
just routine
And raising sinners from the dead is
where you’re always seen
And we desire to know You as we have
never done
In fellowship with Father, the Spirit
and Your Son.
Jim Strickland – Written Monday 2nd January 2012
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