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I
had a car accident. It was minor, but it was my fault. It
wrecked my whole week. It was all I could think about. Until
my daughter had to get three stitches in her upper lip after a
close encounter with a see-saw. She became my world at that
moment. Until the next morning when we got the call about
Teena Harris. Her father, Glenn, had just finished teaching a
class on the Miracles of Jesus. “We could use one right
now,” he said in the somber, subdued waiting room.
Life
has a way of reminding you of what is truly important. Just
when you have fretted over the fact that your team didn’t
win the big game or your car is not working right or one of
the appliances needs to be replaced, you are shocked out of
selfishness by something that has real value. In a moment, all
of the trivial things that seemed important at the time are
thrown aside so that your mind and heart can give full
attention to the matter at hand. Since life is so uncertain
and can change so quickly, it is also a subtle reminder that
you have little control over what happens.
Staying
in touch with people is critical when critical times come. We
keep them informed, we update them on any progress, we let
them know what we are feeling. But we must not forget the
superior form of communication, one where there is no limit on
the number of minutes used, no access fees or connections
charges. It is a free access to God that man has enjoyed from
the beginning. Long before there were cell phones, email, and
the combination thereof, there was prayer.
What
is it about prayer that it can lift the heaviest of loads?
Prayer
reassures us that the Lord is listening. David prayed, “Hear
the voice of my supplications when I cry to Thee for help,
when I lift up my hands toward Thy holy sanctuary” (Psa.
28:2). Like a little child who raises his hands to be picked
up by his father, David was certain that the petitions he was
raising were being heard by his Father in heaven. But David
was not the only one who had the ear of God.
The
Father was listening to all the prayers offered in all the
assemblies of His children today. He was listening to all of
the families who bowed and “returned thanks” around their
dinner tables. He heard every cry from every waiting room,
emergency room, and back bedroom. How incredible to think that
He who created all the world cares about what’s going on in
mine. Our Lord listens.
Prayer
reminds us that God can handle what is out of our hands. Psalm
28 was David’s call for help. But he did not strap on his
armor and attempt to fight his enemies on his own. The Lord
had delivered him from the paw of the lion and bear that
threatened his sheep. The Lord brought him a victory over
Goliath. The Lord’s power would prevail over the enemies of
His anointed. “The Lord is my strength and my shield,”
David confessed (Psa. 28:7). No other weaponry was necessary.
There
will be occasions when our safety is threatened by the
seemingly impossible, a situation that makes us admit, “I
can’t do anything about it.” But God can. No matter how
scary the lion or bear, no matter how tall the giant, no
matter how many the enemy, no matter how bleak the diagnosis,
no matter how great the difficulty. This is still our
Father’s world. Trust in His strength to control what you
cannot.
Prayer
enables us our hearts to hold nothing back. In his cry for
deliverance from his enemies, David pleaded for the Lord to
“requite them according to their work and according to the
evil of their practices” and “according to the deeds of
their hands” (Psa. 28:4). He was not calling for personal
vengeance, but for the Lord to punish those who did not honor
His work or His will. In any case, David did not hide the most
intimate feelings of his heart.
God
wants to hear from His people, but He is not interested in the
mere repetition of meaningless phrases that do not originate
from the heart. He wants us to pour out our cares before His
throne, to make all our “wants and wishes known.” He will
never betray our confidence; our faith in Him will never be
disappointed. When David did that, he could boast, “my heart
trusts in Him, and I am helped” (28:7). Perhaps our help has
not come because we are still withholding from Him from Whom
nothing is hidden.
I
never know what to say to someone in the wake of a disaster.
But I’ve learned that it’s not as important what you say
at those times, but Who you say them to.
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