Today even before I got up..I just started praying, I've been feeling overwhelmed lately...probably because I've actually been reading the news. I don't really have time to watch TV, so periodically throughout the day I will check out the news online. It's CRAZY to say the least...and for me..what I've found..I'm better off spiritually if I don't know what's going on in this crazy world. But then I stop and think, and really that's probably selfish, because God has given me a gift...and it's not a secret it's a gift He has given to all of us..and it's something I am so passionate about, and need to do even more of...prayer. I was reading this morning...in Genesis, the story of Jacob after he had married his wives..and these verses was so pointed to me, "Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,' I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff {only} I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray..." 32:9-11a I was just overwhelmed this morning with my own depravity and the almighty grace of my Savior. I look around at our world, I read the news...and I'm "shocked" at the outward expressions of sin that people exhibit, and then I pray. But God Himself, shocked by nothing because He is all knowing, knows the sins of my heart. I don't know of any particular sin right now that I am dealing with, other than just daily living a life that honors God by not sinning, and that itself is a feat...something that only comes from God...living in His grace and by His guidance. But I am aware that I am completely wholly unworthy to call God Father, to depend on His grace and sacrifice, and yet...that is what He has done. He accomplished what an unworthy sinner such as myself could not, and then graciously credited His actions on Calvary to my account. It's amazing really....completely humbling and so encouraging that I am to daily live for Him. AS Jacob cried out to God, saying how unworthy he was to received God's lovingkindess and faithfulness, I found myself this morning in a warm closet reading Jacob's heart, and I thought how amazingly blessed the Lord has made me, not just because I have a warm closet I can read His word in and cry out to Him in, but simply because He chose before the foundations of the earth to draw me near to Him, and bring me into the family of God. Long ago, I told a friend of mine, I never want to get over being saved. I think sometimes we do. I know I go through periods where I just don't give much thought to it...but I want to wake up each morning and Praise the Lord for being redeemed. I love how the Lord put this passage in His word to show us, our brothers and sisters in the past had the same sinful human heart we do today, and yet the cried out to God...they persisted...they did not let up...they laid their hearts and lives before the Lord. One of my favorite things from the Old Testament is the amazing prayers of the saints, crying out to God, as Hannah did, as Jeremiah did as Daniel did, and the list goes on. Their prayers...the WORD of God are such an astounding blessing, I find when I don't know what to pray..I can pray the words of my brothers and sisters from the Old Testament and it truly blesses my soul.
I want to share a few of my favorites with you, and I pray that God's word, which does not return void, blesses your soul.
O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name." Daniel 9:18-19
Call to Me, and I will answer you and teach you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3
As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. Then Eli said to her, "How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you." But Hannah replied, "No, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD. 1 Samuel 1:13-15
No comments:
Post a Comment