Prayer is Always a Response
We didn’t start the conversation. We never do.
But this isn’t what we usually believe.
We believe it starts with us.
We believe it starts with our decision; that God waits with bated breath to see what we will decide.
Eventually, given enough time to truly understand the magnificence of God and the depravity of all mankind, we come to realize that God was waking us up as we would wake an infant.
In order not to frighten the baby we whisper in soft tones and we touch the little one with a gentle hand.
Sometimes the child cries anyway, but often he or she just opens their eyes and looks around with the innocent idea that they woke themselves; that before their conscious awareness everyone, including God, was asleep.
This brings me to an observation about observing a Sabbath day and how it links to prayer as a response to God.
God never rests.
He never takes his eye off his creation.
God never tires, but he knows we do.
And God is never distracted, but he knows we are regularly.
So he calls us to rest, just like my parents often declared Nap Time for my siblings and me when we were small children.
But more than for physical recovery from work, why does God call us to stop and be quiet?
The answer is so we can meet with him; spend time and respond to him via prayer.
Rest without prayer might recover a few bodily organs but leaves the soul and spirit dry and weak.
And when we are in this state we are ripe for illnesses of all kinds — physical, mental, and spiritual.
So prayer is more than a few words mumbled before a meal.
Prayer is the doorway to an abundant life beyond our imagination.
From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:4-8 (ESV)
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah