Bryan Richardson – The Everyday Prayer

Save

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 89 (day three)

”I will not lie to David.”

The Lord has intimately involved himself in the affairs of men. As St. Paul himself said, God is not far from any one of us. Although human beings are mortal and are limited in understanding, God does not exploit that state of being. He doesn’t mislead or obfuscate. He doesn’t insult the intelligence he gave to humans. Rather, he relates to human beings with – as this Psalmist and other biblical writers attest from their own experience – lovingkindness. The mad, painful, confusing existence each person knows will stabilize and settle and cease to threaten when one calls on God as the only hope for rescue. People who have testified to God’s response of calm and strength didn’t read it in a theology book. They lived it. They lived to tell you about it. God will not lie to you. He will save you.

Good

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 98 (day three)

Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy

Before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.

The earth, the sky, the wind, the water cycle, the upthrust of granite strata as mountains form, the tides, the seasons – all the clamor and movement and rhythm – what is it for? Empirical research, as useful as it is, does not answer that question. The questions of purpose and direction – why there’s something rather than nothing, and where it’s headed – lie in the mystery of God’s revelation to humanity. A good God has created a good universe, and you can trust his goodness towards you.

Future

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 85:1-3, 8-13 (day three)

“You turned away from your burning anger.”

As one reads this Psalm, it becomes apparent from verses 4 and following that the first three verses have not yet occurred. Rather, these verses are forward-looking, ordered to a future of restoration that the psalmist sees coming to pass. They are in that sense prophetic. These words amount to something other than “It’ll all work out somehow.” They arise from an experience of God rooted in God’s very being – beauty, creativity, goodness, purpose. Nothing – neither hardship nor disaster nor failure nor foolishness, and most assuredly not evil – will prevail against God. There will be people who turn away from sin. There will be grace and faith and salvation – more even than you expect. Since when did the current state of things stop God’s prophetic word that all things will be made new?

Tough

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 (day three)

“How long will you be angry with the prayer of your people?”

The Psalms brim with praise, joy, gratitude, exhilaration – and sorrow, lament, suffering, anger. The former would ring inattentive at best and smug at worst if not for the latter. (Of course, the latter would ring pessimistic at best and nihilistic at worst if not for the former.) Here, the psalmist utters one of those audacious questions that smolders with discontent. It’s as if the subtitle of the book of Psalms is Putting It All On the Table When There’s Nothing Left to Lose. Questions such as “how long” arise from lives that have no time for niceties or etiquette in prayer. There’s just too much at stake. The audience with God is now, and if God won’t rescue, rescue won’t happen. The Psalms teach tough prayer.

Words

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 6:17-20 (day three)

“…and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth…”

Paul makes a request here that arises from a vulnerable self-awareness. Though Paul produced voluminous amounts of written material, though he trafficked in words as a vocation – preaching, debating, exhorting – he recognized the possibility that his use of words could escalate a situation. This is the man who had words with Barnabas resulting in at least a temporary break in their relationship. This is the man who called on a faction of the church at Jerusalem to castrate themselves. In his zeal for the work of the church, Paul could reach for words in ways that could threaten to upstage that good work. Paul asks the congregation to pray that his use of words honor the work God has called him to do.

Stand

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 6:10-17 (day three)

“…and having done everything, to stand firm.”

It’s important that you still stand after everything that has come against you. Why? Because when something attempts to take your voice, your presence, your worth, that is an offensive attempt to undo what God made when he made you. If there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need not repent, then assuredly there is more rejoicing in heaven over one person whose light has not been extinguished than over ninety-nine who were never under threat. When the Spirit equips a person with the armor of God, this isn’t a mere exercise in getting the answers right in a Bible study. This is a provision for strength in the face of everyone who has ever shut you out, forgotten you, or neglected to treasure you.

Way

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 5:15-21 (day three)

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit…”

Substance use makes sense as an attempt to avoid otherwise painful places of a person’s inner world. A person seeking such relief will experience shame from others. And now in addition to the internal agony the person lives with, that person must also navigate feelings of disgrace and rejection. It’s awful. Fortunately, Paul’s words here offer compassion. He acknowledges how hard the world is on a person’s heart (“the days are evil”). His words convey the understanding that people do reach for all kinds of things to ease the pain. And then he says that there is a way to the soothing you’re looking for that will not use you up like you are disposable and worthless. That way is the Spirit of God himself.

Glory

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 5:8-14 (day three)

“It is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.”

One might read this passage and conclude that it’s giving Pharisee. As in, “God, I thank you that I’m not like this person here because I don’t stoop to the level of acknowledging those shameful things.” The sense of these remarks by Paul is not the policing or surveillance of conversations people have, though, but rather the beauty and elegance of people whom God has made and who bear his image. Paul isn’t saying, “Watch your language,” but instead, “As we necessarily speak of horrific things, we remember with sorrow that with each deed of darkness the glory of a living, breathing human being is abused and disrespected.”

Feel

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 4:17-24 (day three)

“They, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”

When nerve sensation ceases in any part of the body, one of the dangers is that wounds will go unnoticed and untreated; what you can’t feel you won’t address. This is true of the human body, and it’s true of one’s emotional and spiritual experience too. When one develops an inner callousness, panic can set in when the realization dawns that the ability to feel love, joy, sadness, hope – even pain – has faded or ceased altogether. In that panic, a person will reach for more and more extreme behaviors, greedy to feel something – anything. The mounting damage to one’s soul from such activity goes unnoticed because, again, the person cannot feel. Jesus Christ can restore feeling to the heart, halting the spiritual gangrene.

Truth

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 4:11-16 (day three)

“…speaking the truth in love…”

The old movie quote, “You can’t handle the truth!” has particular resonance with this passage. It’s not necessarily that people to whom you are speaking cannot handle the truth. The question is how you yourself will handle that which is true. Can you be trusted to steward the truth well? Will you employ truth as a means to power? Will you speak what is technically true in order to prove a point? Will you say something just because it is true to avoid the difficulty of maintaining silence? Truth tempts one to all kinds of bullying behavior, or passive-aggressive ploys, or sanctimonious posturing. When love generates one’s speech and behavior, though, truth will serve love, and it will focus all interactions heavenward. People will reject truth, but you will never reject people when love flows from you.