Jump Start # 1275

Psalms 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

  I had one of those moments the other day, epiphany is what some folks call them. It’s when you finally get it in your mind. It’s when you see things that maybe you knew but never really thought much about it.

My four kids are all married and they all live a few hours away from me, some north and some south. We talk often, usually every week, with some, every day. I call them, they call me. The other day, one called. Things were changing where one worked. It’s was going to be difficult days ahead. I could see the concern, uncertainty in the voice. I felt for that one. We finished talking and another of the kids called. On top of the world, things were going great. Loved the job, thinking about getting a new car, life was hitting on all cylinders for this one. That’s when it hit me. That’s when my eyes were opened.

I have always understood prayer. I have taught classes on prayer. I’ve preached on prayer. I have analyzed the prayers of the Bible. Prayer is one topic that I felt pretty good about. It was something that I have done with others. It was a ready statement I shared with others, “Have you prayed about it.” I have dozens of books on prayer.

After two of my kids called, I finally, and for the first time, thought about prayer from God’s perspective. I’ve always thought about prayer from our side of the world and not His side of the world. Here are some things I learned:

1. God is amazing to hear all of our prayers. We couldn’t do it. We’d be overwhelmed. We are without resources. God never is. I just thought about my simple family, for one child, everything was going great, for another, there was deep concern. That’s just my family and that was just half my kids. I started thinking about the congregation I worship with. This past week, someone had a baby. Someone’s sister recently died. Someone was in the hospital dealing with some heart issues. Someone is planning a wedding. So many different concerns, needs, emotions. And those are just the surface things. How does God do it?

Then you start thinking about all of God’s children just in this state. Then you all of God’s children in the United States, then you expand that to the world. The concerns are serious. For instance:

• There are brethren meeting in Northern Nigeria who literally fear for their lives. Extremist have taken over the government, immersion is outlawed, and they must worship in fear and in hiding. They are praying.
• At the same time, there are those all over the world, who are holding the hand of a loved one as they are slipping from this life. They are praying.
• There are parents who go to bed at night with tears on their pillows because they do not have a relationship with their grown children. They are praying.
• There is a young mother, with small children, who realizes that her marriage is over. Her husband has left her for someone else. She hasn’t worked outside the home in many years. She will have to move, find babysitters. Her world is coming apart. She is scared. She is praying.
• There are congregations that have come to the conclusion that it’s time to get some fresh blood in the pulpit. It’s time to let the current preacher go and start the look for a new preacher. That’s hard. There are prayers.
• There are people who have been studying the Bible and they now realize that they must make a change. They have not been worshipping properly. They have family and friends where they are now attending. They fight the pressure to stay, knowing the right thing is to leave. They are praying.
• Then there are the lonely. They have never been married. Now aged, they face the end of live alone. They are praying.
• There is a family who got into a mess financially. They now realize that they are way over their head. They don’t know what to do. They are praying.
• There is the young person who has made some terrible choices while in college. He got caught up doing some wrong things. The police were called. He sits in a jail. He is sorry, scared and certain that he has lost the semester. He prays.
• There are those who pray to end their struggle with pornography.

These prayers are every day. These prayers come from all over the world. Hundreds and hundreds of prayers. Congregational prayers. Family prayers. Individual prayers. So many of them would break our hearts. How does God do it? Situations that are complex. Problems that involve governments and laws. Problems that deal with relationships and feelings. Differences among people. Emotions. Broken hearts. Broken vows. Broken homes. Problems caused by sin. Problems caused by attitudes. God is amazing to hear all these things. Our passage states that He is near to the broken hearted. How God does this is beyond our understanding. Just a couple of these would wear us out. These are all serious, serious problems.

2. When I think about all these things God is receiving every day, all these serious, serious problems, it makes me not want to bother Him. It makes me think, my concerns are nothing, I’ll put my prayers at the end of the list. We might even think, I won’t even pray, because I do not want to add to God’s burdens. But that conclusion is not the right one. God wants us to “bother” Him. God can handle this. He wants us reaching out to Him. He wants us to pray to Him, seek Him, listen to Him, and obey Him. There is not a pecking order with God. He doesn’t treat us like the emergency room of a hospital, the most important cases get taken care of first. The rest must wait their turn. There is no turn with God. He can answer all prayers at once. He can deal with all problems at once. He doesn’t get stressed, as we would. He doesn’t get overloaded, overworked, as we might. He doesn’t need a break, as we would certainly need one. He doesn’t feel the need for a vacation from all these troubles. Amazing how God operates. Don’t ever feel like you are bugging God. It was Jesus who told us to pray like the persistent widow. It was Jesus who said to pray at all times and not to lose heart. If it bothers you, take it to Heaven. Another, interesting thought on this point, God is not so involved in one prayer that He must allow an angel or someone else to take care of your prayers. God, Himself will do it.

3. All of this reminds me to be thankful to God. Who else would we go to? Who else could help? There are some things that no one else understands. God does. I pity those who do not know God. What do they do? Who does the atheist turn to? Who does the neighbor, who doesn’t have a relationship with God,  turn to? What a blessing our relationship is with God. We must honor the relationship, protect it and cherish it. Great is our God. Great is His name. And Great is what He does.

All of this from a couple phone calls from the kids.

Don’t you just love the Lord? I do.

Roger