The Everyday Prayer

Re: Verse reading–1 Samuel 1:1-20 (day two)
“Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears…” (1 Samuel 1:10). What prayer surfaces the deep longing in your soul? It’s a faithful prayer that believes one is being heard by One who is powerful enough to respond. It’s a hopeful prayer that trusts that the One who hears is good and will respond favorably. It’s a desperate prayer from one who has realized that there is no other One to whom the request can be brought. Prayer that surfaces the longing of the soul results in rest well before the answer is realized (1 Samuel 1:18). Haven’t experienced this? Perhaps your soul longs for too small a thing? Try longing for spiritual birth in someone you love, and you’ll find that faithful, hopeful and desperate prayer is the only way forward. As Charles Spurgeon once said, “if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”

Re: Verse reading–1 Samuel 1:1-20 (day one)
“No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.”  (v 15)  The Bible often compares spiritual life to being drunk.  “Do not get drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:”But others were saying, ‘They are full of sweet wine’ ” (Acts 2:13–at Pentecost)  Even Hannah is accused.  Perhaps it is because drunkenness and spiritual life both displace or short-circuit the ego.  In one case, we “lose control” to a negative influence. (alchohol).  In the other, we “surrender control and choice” to a higher/better mind.  (Spirit)  In both cases, someone or something else takes over. One thing is clear, so long as my ego is in charge, the Lord cannot be.  Something has to break my heart so that my soul pours out, my defenses leave and the Lord comes in to reign.

RE Verse reading–Genesis 24:34-67  (day seven)  “Then I bowed my head and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord. . .who had led me by the right way”  (v 48)  It is a 3 step process.  Ideally.  We call on God.  He answers.  We worship.  Sadly, the third step is frequently omitted.  Anyone else ever seek God in crisis, receive an answer and then rush right back into life without worshipping?  I am sorry to admit but I often play the part of spoiled child.  Ungrateful.  Taking His kindness for granted.  “Bless the Lord, O my soul. . .forget none of His benefits”  (Psalm 103:2)  “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness. . .knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance.”  (Romans 2:4)  God’s gifts are freely given.  We cannot repay Him.  However, every answered prayer waits for a response of praise from a receptive and grateful heart.  May we gather in a few hours and bow and worship this generous God!

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 24:34-67 (day six)
Know anyone wise?  Abraham was.  Walking with God for years will do it for you.  It is the only way.  Sometimes the wisest decisions are things that we don’t do/don’t think.  So, Abraham doesn’t say, “Well, let’s just blur the lines on who Isaac should marry.”  “God will cut us some slack on this issue.”  Friendship with God was never a pass for moral (or marital) compromise for Abraham.  He also didn’t say, “If something is going to get done, I have to do it.”  He believed that God works through many people, not just one.  (Belief  in Christ is belief in the body of Christ)  But he also didn’t believe that old age (was he 140 by this time?) allows a person to be passive or uninvolved with the outworking purposes of God.  He takes initiative.  He leads his family forward.  Let’s see. . .no moral compromise, the ability to delegate, no retirement. . .How wise!

RE Verse Reading–Genesis 24:34-67  (day four)
Ten days didn’t seem too long…but what if they were ten days late?  One day does not seem much; but one day more may be one day too late, and one day too late may be too late forever!  Obedience is doing the right thing, at the right time, with the right heart attitude!  Even one second on the clock could mean missing Christ forever…either for you or for someone else.  Satan plays the same game over and over.  He doesn’t oppose religion openly, but ‘everything in its proper place’…”this is just not the time for it; wait a little longer…say, ten days!”

Satan desires that no one come to Christ, but if he cannot keep us from Christ, he wants to have us just a little longer.  Not only can he get more service out of our lives, but he can often pile on shameful baggage that can cripple our service to God.  He seeks to sow tares into our wheat field!

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 24 (day three)
“He will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.”  Too a great degree, “romance” is a modern notion which sees desire as the component of humanity which must be satisfied–else marriage, employment, or life in general leave a person “unfulfilled.”  Whatever their flaws–and they had them–Abraham, Isaac, the servant, Rebekah, and her father Bethuel understood the concept of a people.  They knew much more rested on this impending marriage than the couple’s happiness.  They were building families, a people, and a nation in the midst of a hostile world whose only light was the Lord.  Personal desire was simply too untrustworthy to pilot such a large enterprise.  When a society knows that, its best days lie ahead.

RE Verse Reading–Genesis 24:34-67  (day two)
“’Will you go with this man?’ She replied, ‘I will go.’” (Genesis 24:58-59). A marriage vow is either a preposterous assumption about what the future holds or a powerful declaration of faith in the One who holds the future. For Rebekah, it was the latter. Marriage in any age is an act of faith. Consider the promises: to remain faithful to someone whom you’ve only known for a limited time and in limited conditions, to care for someone who may not be willing or able to return care to you and to join your life to someone who may act foolishly or not at all. Despite the romantic declarations of an engaged couple, it is not faith in their future spouse that justifies a lifelong vow. It is faith in the one who answers prayers prayed only “in the heart” (Genesis 24:45). Is marriage to be avoided because of the certain uncertainty that accompanies it? No! It is a cowardly, selfish and unbelieving generation who avoids marriage. While not to be entered “unadvisedly,” marriage ought to be entered…and entered faith-full-ly.

Re: Verse Reading–Genesis 24:34-67  (day one)
“The Lord, before whom I walk will send His angel with you and make your way successful.  You shall get a wife for my son. . . from my father’s house.”  (v 40)  By this point in the story, Abraham has walked with God for many years.  He was, in fact, still walking with God, still trusting for each step.  Confident that a new nation was God’s promise, Abraham knew that it was necessary to find Isaac a wife.  He also knew that God would not leave this important step to chance or choice or human wisdom.  He was absolutely certain of God’s help.  Scripture speaks of God’s call (and provision) for some to be single.  It also says that “He made a woman. . .and brought her to him”  (Genesis 2:22)  People who walk with God can be sure that He will “send His angel” with us as well.  When God is involved, we call it “holy” matrimony.

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 37:2-14, 18-28 (day six)
“When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.”  (v 4)  He was his father’s favorite and it drove his brothers crazy (angry)!  Not a recommended pattern for positive family life.  Even so, the Joseph story reminds me of Jesus.  The Bible says that the Lord was crucified because the Jewish leaders were envious.  (Mark 15:10)  Are we ever the same?  When God chooses someone for a special task and gives them special gifts for the accomplishment of same, do we ever second-guess?  Wonder why it wasn’t us?  Unwise.  The Bible says that God works all things after the counsel of His own will.  He is immensely wise and magnificently good.  Better for us to trust the “gifts and calling” that He puts on every life without envy or anger.  No favorites here, just the unrepentant wisdom of God.