Learning from Old Testament Prayers (1)

 

We all have times when we find prayer difficult.  Prayer, however, is a vital part of our spiritual lives, and so we need to do all we can to cultivate our prayer life.  The Old Testament is full of prayers that people made to God, and we can be helped as we read and study them. 

   Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20 had reason to pray to God.  He had received news that a large force of Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites were invading the country. Two things characterized his response to this news.  First, he was afraid.  Then he set his face to seek the Lord.  What is our first response when we face a situation that causes us to be afraid, anxious or worried about the outcome?  Jehoshaphat gives us a good example to follow: he turned to the Lord with his need.  This is ultimately the best place to go, and it is admirable that he did this first.  Why is it that this is often our last port of call?  In response to seeking God for His help, he then made another important decision.  He proclaimed a fast, and all Judah came together to seek help from the Lord.  There are times when we need to include others, particularly in the case of a national emergency.  We saw this in World War II when there was a call to prayer by the leaders of the United Kingdom to pray for the land.  I am sure that was one reason why the outcome was the way it was.  We are now in another national emergency, yet the call to prayer seems half-hearted at best, and there is not a national movement to pray about our present pandemic.  What would happen if we had done so?  We can also say that there are many advantages of communities praying together about things.  It brings a unity of purpose in our praying, and encourages and strengthens us as we do things together. 

            Let’s highlight some things from Jehoshaphat’s prayer.  First, it begins with worship; secondly, there is a claim upon the promises of God; and thirdly, there is a complaint to God for allowing these forces to come against them. 

However, I want to concentrate in this article on the last two sentences of his prayer.  They are: “For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you" (v.5b-6). In these two sentences we see what prayer is all about.  Firstly, it is the acknowledgement that we are weak and need God to help us in our problems.  It is an expression of faith in God that believes that, although there is nothing we can do, we believe that He is big enough to step in and do something about it. This is a recurring theme throughout the Bible: that God takes pleasure in helping those who are weak and rely upon Him.  Paul sums it up well when he quotes God as saying, “my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  When we are weak and know it, it is then that we realize our need of God.  However, this shouldn’t be a desperate last-minute plea to God for help.  Rather, we should seek God’s help and empowering in each and every situation, not just when we are out of our depth. 

            The second thing that these two sentences highlight about prayer is that we need to acknowledge that without God’s help and leading we can end up making a mess of life, because we are trying to solve problems with our own understanding and abilities.  If the first point was that our faith in God is expressed in our call to God for help in our need because the situation is beyond us, then this second point is the acknowledgement that because we don’t know what to do, we are looking to God for the answers, for His leading and guidance.  We are not relying on ourselves to sort out problems.  Twice it is recorded in v.3 and v.4 that Jehoshaphat set out to seek the Lord, and the people of Judah did the same.  Their focus in finding answers to their problems was on the Lord, not trying to solve the problem themselves.  This was clearly rewarded, because God not only gave them an answer through the prophet, but also gave them victory over their enemies without them having to do anything.  How amazing is that!

            There is an important lesson here for us to take to heart.  God loves us and wants the best for us, so we can have confidence in giving to the Lord every need and situation we may find ourselves in, whether this is making a phone call to encourage someone, or seeking God’s help when we go food shopping, to the bigger decisions in life like buying a car, where to live, who to marry, and the job to apply for.  Prayer is not just asking for things and for help to be able to accomplish things, but also it is bringing to Him our problems, difficulties, and difficult situations that we may be facing.

But there is one important thing we need to keep in mind.  Jehoshaphat said in v.6, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”   In other words, he was looking to God for the answer, whatever that might be.  When we pray, we need to remember that it is God who will give the answer.  What we have in mind may not be what God has in mind.  As David Jeremiah has said, “If you ask Him something, you must be willing to take what He gives…. People must learn to want what they get.…. When I talk to soldiers about prayer, I try to tell them that they must be adults. God expects us to be men. Only children demand a happy ending to every story. How old must we be before we begin to realize that even prayer can’t get us everything we want, unless the thing we want is right for us to have?” ^[1]  We need to learn to set our minds on the things God wants, and align our desires and prayers with His.

We may not see the answers to our prayers in the way we would like to see answers, yet we can trust God to give us the best answer.  So although we may not see a change in the situation for the better, it will change us.  It can remove anxiety; we can experience the peace of God; it enables us to learn to be content (see Philippians 4:6-7. 13).  Jehoshaphat’s prayer is a good model for us to follow.  Let’s take it to heart and make it our own. 

 

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^[1] Jeremiah, D. (2016). Count it all joy: discover a happiness that circumstances cannot change. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.

Giving Thanks in a Pandemic

             It is nearly a year since we moved back to Newent.  We were just getting settled when lockdown happened.  It hasn’t been an easy time, not being able to do normal things like attend church, sing with others, visit and be visited by people, shop as and when we want to, and trying to be careful to stay safe with all the changing regulations.  In all these hardships and difficulties I have been challenged about how I am responding to the situation.   I have realized that I have often focused on myself, and consequently this has resulted in negative conversations that have not encouraged or built people up.

            Paul reminds us to “pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).  It is the ‘all circumstances’ that has been going through my mind a lot recently.  The problems and difficulties associated with the pandemic are part of those ‘all circumstances’.  Am I giving thanks for all the circumstances that I find myself in?  The answer has been ‘NO!’  But as I have thought about it more I have been seeing lots of things that we can give thanks to God for.  That doesn’t nullify the hardships or difficulties, but it helps us to look at what we are facing in a different way. 

            What are some of the things that we can give thanks to God for?  It is easy to look back to the past and find things for which we are thankful – our salvation, our new life in Christ, the fellowship of the church, for family and friends – the list could go on as we think about it.  But the implication of Paul’s exhortation is that we should be giving thanks for the things in the ‘now’.   It is easy to think of all the negatives – we can’t meet as a church or sing together, we can’t entertain or have people (even family) in the home, and other restrictions, which can easily lead to complaining.  But Paul’s exhortation is to give thanks in ‘all circumstances’. So how do we do that?

            We need to begin by asking God to open our eyes, so that we can see the things that God is doing in our present situations.  It can also be helpful at the end of the day just to think through all that has happened that day, and see how God may have been part of those events.  For example, we may have enjoyed a church service online.  We can thank God for the technology that is now available freely that churches can use to communicate the message of God.  We can thank God for equipping members in church who are capable of putting programmes together, for those God has gifted to communicate the message, or sing, or communicate well with children.  We can thank God for the wider reach of an online service, and for all who listen who don’t know Christ yet.

            On a more personal note, we can thank God for the opportunities He may have given us to bless someone with a phone call, or to talk to a neighbour, keeping social distance.  We can thank God for His daily provisions and care, or for more time to do things that we weren’t able to do when life was so busy.  If we are going to be thankful, we need to be looking out to see what God is doing each day through the circumstances of our lives. 

            But there is another aspect to this.  James reminds us that “the testing of our faith produces steadfastness [or endurance]” (ch.1:3).  The implication is clear.  Life isn’t going to be easy, and so patience and endurance are needed that will require perseverance, not giving up easily, because the rewards are worth sticking at it for.  James says that we are to count it all joy when we meet these trials.  Another word we could use is to be thankful for it.  As we see beyond the immediate difficulty or hardship to what God will do for us or in us, we can learn to be thankful.  Paul reminds us in Romans 8 that all things are working out for our good, even if we don’t see the outcome until later.  We might not see the ‘good’ in a situation immediately; in fact, we might not even see the final outcome in this life.  Even when life seems to be treating us badly, God is still in control to bring out good at His appointed time.  In the meantime, we continue to trust God, thanking Him that he has not left us on our own, for He has promised never to leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  Peter in a similar way talks about our faith being tested, as gold in the furnace to get rid of the impurities so that it might be proved genuine (1 Peter 1:6-7).  So when we go through hard times or difficulties, we can be thankful, for God wants to prove us, mature us, and develop character through these times.  Let’s look up rather than down, and when we share with others, we can give hope and comfort as we share what God is doing in our lives, without discounting the hardships or problems we are going through.     

Is God Holding Your Hands?

             As grandparents, it is always a joy to spend time with the grandchildren when we are free to do so and more so when they want to hold our hands when we go for a walk to the park or somewhere else.  Have you ever said to your children or grand children, “Hold my hand while we cross the road?”  Or perhaps when they are walking a little ahead, and suddenly a big dog appears coming down the road, what do they do?  Usually, they will run back to you and hold your hand, keeping you between them and the dog.

            The psalmist in Psalm 73 says, “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand” (v.23).  He pictures God as holding his hand.  God is holding our hand!  That picture caught my imagination.  Let’s look at it further.

            The context is that the psalmist says that he almost stumbled and his feet nearly slipped (v.2) because he had become envious of the wicked and their prosperity (v.3).  However, that all changed when he went into the presence of God (v.17).  He saw their end for what it was, but also that he had been unsettling his heart, making it “bitter” and “torn up inside” (v.21, NLT).  He describes himself as being “so foolish, like a senseless animal to” God (v.22, NLT).  Yet, God in his grace and mercy still accepts him.  The psalmist could say, “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand” (v.23, ESV).  What a comfort that must have been to the psalmist, to see that God was still holding his hand.

            If God is holding our hand as he was holding the psalmist’s hand, what are the implications for us?  The first thing that the psalmist noted was that God had been with him throughout (v.23).    God had never left him, even though he had, in a manner of speaking, taken his hands out of his.  He thought he was on his own, but God was holding him the whole time.  That should encourage us to realize that no matter what our situation may feel like, or how hard it might be at the moment, God is still with us, holding our hands.  God has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  Jesus reinforces that thought when he tells his disciples that “no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28), nor, for that matter, out of His Father’s hand (v.29).  I pictured both parents holding the hands of their child, and lifting the child over puddles or obstacles.  God’s hold on us is secure, and a double protection, holding each hand.  We will feel safe and secure as we trust God’s protection in all our circumstances.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that we won’t suffer, experience loss, or struggle with life at times.  God is still there, holding our hands.  This isn’t the place to answer the question why Christians suffer.  Our confidence is in the goodness of God, and although we may not see a good outcome, we can continue to believe that there will be one eventually, for God is holding our hand.  Therefore I can trust God for His protection and safe keeping.  I can look back on occasions when God has definitely protected me.  When I have seen that protection, it has resulted in praise and thanksgiving. 

            A second thing we can note is that if He is holding our hands we won’t get lost, because He will be guiding us in the right direction.  Psalm 139:10 says, “even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”  When parents are holding a child’s hands, the child might want to go in a particular direction, but the parent will hold the child’s hand tightly so that he will not run away, or go down paths that might be dangerous.  They can see the bigger picture.  That is what God is doing as well.  We need to submit to His leading if we are going to experience blessing and security.  The road might not be easy, but God knows the way, and as long as we trust Him we will have the confidence to believe that He is leading us in a way that will ultimately lead to a good outcome (Romans 8:28).

            The encouragement of the psalmist’s words are that no matter what happens, God is there holding us and will never leave or forsake us.  We can therefore trust Him to be doing what is best and good for us.