Someone Else Is Praying - Part 1

When it comes to prayer, one can think of the myriad of prayers being offered in worship and also during the week in various places wherever people of faith feel the need to speak to God. Imagine that there is a continual "live streaming" of prayer to our heavenly God!

Now, one might ask: Are there prayers being offered to God beyond us mere mortals? It is comforting to know that there is!

Amid all of the prayers from human beings, the Bible tells us that there are also prayers from Jesus himself being offered up to God. In the New Testament we read: "Consequently he is able for all time to save^* those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25

Jesus is praying for us! That ought to mean a lot to us. The one who shared our humanness, the one who prayed in his own life here on earth, now prays in heaven for you and me. The next time you feel alone, you can know that there is more power, more concern, than what you could ever imagine. There are prayers by the Son of God being spoken on your behalf.

Waiting with Watchful Eyes

I conclude my references to Psalm 130 with the words: "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. " Psalm 130: 5-6

At the beginning of the psalm, the psalmist had cried out to God in the depths of his being. There are times when this strong feeling is needed. We might even feel that our relationship to God is being called into question - let alone God still being with us.

Then, as this psalm ends, we discover the confidence that the psalmist has. He uses the analogy of a watchman on the tower of the city's walls. The watchman longs for the sunrise and daybreak to come. It is with the same intensity that the psalmist longs for an answer to come to his prayer.

Are you willing to wait with the same intensity when you pray? Are you continually on the lookout to where God might show up? This intense waiting signals your confidence in God to come through for you.

Praying under Forgiveness

I continue this week in looking at Psalm 130, in which the psalmist is crying out to God from the depths of one's being.

Today, I focus on the words "If you, Lord should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared." vs. 3 & 4.

In praying, the psalmist acknowledges his own sinfulness. He will not attempt to put up any kind of false front before God. The acknowledgment also recognizes the despair that this confession can bring. However, in the same breath, the psalmist acknowledges the overflowing goodness of God that comes in forgiveness.

What is your posture in prayer? Can you also come to God with the same humility? It's easy to feel that maybe we are worthy of receiving for what we have asked. I believe that confessing our own unworthiness, that everything we ask for comes as gift from God's grace, puts us in a different mode. It puts us in a receiving mode where we will stand ready to accept and appreciate everything that God might include in answering our prayer.

It's okay to acknowledge your sin, you, too, can live in the strength and blessing of forgiveness.

Crying from the Depths of Your Being

For this week and the next two weeks I will be using Psalm 130 as the basis of my meditations here. This psalm is the one appointed for our reading in church on this coming Sunday.

The psalmist begins: "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice!" vs. 1-2

Have you ever had the occasion where you were really desperate and felt the gravity of your condition, so much that you could not help but cry out to God?

Such was the situation with Israel being in Babylonian captivity. All seemed to be lost. The Babylonians had captured Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, killed many of the residents, and transported the rest into exile. What hope did these people of God have, knowing that they lost their homeland, the very place that God had promised to them? The prophet Ezekiel has a vision of dry bones that come back to life! There was hope with God amid the despair of the situation.

I wonder, too, about us. Can we still have the desire to cry out to God when our circumstances look as if there is no hope in sight? I believe we have to consider whether or not we must we base our hope on human power alone. If we do believe in God's infinite power AND love then we can place our trust in God and pray to God from the very depths of our being.

Don't be afraid to you. God can hear you, will accept you, and can transform your life.