A Gracefull Place

 

 

"Hear my prayer ,O Lord, give ear to my supplications:  in Thy faithfulness answer me, and in Thy righteousness."  

 

"I stretch forth my hands unto Thee:  my soul thirsteth after Thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. 

 

"Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in Thee do I trust:  cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee. 

 

"Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies:  I flee unto Thee to hide me. 

 

"Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou are my God:  Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

 

"Quicken me, O Lord, for Thy name’s sake:  for Thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble." 

Psalm 143:1, 6, 8-11

 

 

"But mine eyes are unto Thee, O God the Lord:  in Thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute."  Psalm 141:8

 

Where is our focus?  On world events?  Swine flu?   Are we trying to figure out what we can do? 

Are we fearful?  Worried?

Should we be?! 

That last verse, Psalm 141:8 makes me think of the story of Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20.   King Jehoshaphat instituted a lot of reforms when he became king.  Scripture records this statement about him, "And the Lord was with Jeshoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; but sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not after the doings of Israel."  (2 Chron. 17:3-4)

In chapter 20, the children of Ammon and Moab came against him.  What did he do?  Did he wring his hands and pace the floor?   Did he call a meeting of his choice generals to discuss a game plan for defense?

 

Verses 3-4 tell us.  "And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.   And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord:  even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord."

 

Amazing!   Not a call to arms, but a call to prayer!!!

 

Later in verse 12 he voices the same statement as the Psalmist, "O our God, wilt Thou not judge them?  for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do:  but our eyes are upon Thee."

 

There is SO much being thrown at us today.  In all areas, it seems, the foundations are slipping and things seem to be running amuck.  It’s easy to feel helpless, angry and/or frustrated.   I can hardly e-mail or call or write my elected officials about one topic before I’m made aware of several more that could possibly impact me negatively (and not just me, but all of society!).   How can we keep up?  And sometimes it would seem nobody really cares what their constituency thinks–they vote the way they want to anyway.

 

I’m sure every generation has seen many things take place that made them think, "Surely Jesus’ return is imminent!"   But then life goes on, and we get complacent again….for awhile!

 

Of course we who love the Lord should be looking for and longing for His return, just as an engaged young woman anxiously awaits her wedding day!   But we might not long so much for the trials and tribulations we must endure until He comes!

 

It is quite easy to get our eyes off Him and onto the world events taking place (and at a rather rapid pace, I might add!) and be anxious–but not for Him!   We worry about the economy, health concerns, our rapidly disappearing rights, whether the Illuminati really are controlling the world, weather craziness (we had a tornado go through here last week–I’ll be posting about that next Thursday!  )….there are a host of things to occupy our thoughts, make our hearts quake in fear, and simultaneously get our eyes  everywhere but where they should be.

 

On Him.

 

King Jehoshaphat’s story has encouraged me SO much!   The Ron Auch books I’ve been reading have so focused me back on prayer.   How many times have we said, "Well, all I can do is pray."

 

WHAT are we saying?!   "All" we can do is pray?  We should be saying, "YES!  I can pray!" 

 

I think we have gotten into a rut of running through our daily list of needs and wants, that we forget what prayer is really for–communicating with our Creator, Savior, Redeemer and Heavenly Bridegroom!

 

Can you even imagine a bride-to-be who can’t see her bridegroom until their wedding a few months away, calling him up and saying, "Now, John, I would really like you to be sure to find a nice place for us live.  And don’t forget to take care of the tux rental for the wedding.  Oh, and could you till up some space for a garden?  I’d like to plant a garden after we get back from the honeymoon.  Speaking of the honeymoon, could you please be sure to get a great view of the ocean?  And I would really like to fly so we can get there sooner.  I need to go now–oh, and I love you!  Bye!"

 

What kind of a relationship is that?!  It’s not!!!  And yet that is how we treat our wonderful Savior, Who died to restore our relationship to Him.  And all we can think about is how nice Heaven will be while we sigh and toil and think everything here depends on us doing the right things.

 

(Can you hear Jesus saying, "Martha, Martha, [insert your name here!] thou art worried and troubled about many things….)

 

It doesn’t all depend on us doing a single thing.  It depends on us being with Him.   Working with Him.  Walking with Him.

 

"But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

 

Can you imagine?  No matter what happens in this world, our relationship with Christ, our ability to pray and converse with the Creator of all the universe can never be taken away!  So shouldn’t we be spending more time with Him now, in this moment?

 

Remember the Lord appearing to Solomon, and saying in that famous passage 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

 

We like to quote that verse, but I’m not sure we really understand it.

 

We get all focused on the "heal our land" part, and sometimes think we have to do a lot of it.  But did you notice what we are actually supposed to do?

 

Humble ourselves.

 

Pray.

 

Seek His face.

 

Turn from our wicked ways (that’s repentance).

 

Then He hears.

 

He forgives.

 

And HE heals.

 

He wants us to seek Him, just for Him.  Not for His gifts alone. 

 

What ever happened to Jehoshaphat?  Did he come up with a grand scheme to route the enemy?

 

Weellll…he didn’t.  But God did!  He told Jehoshaphat through a prophet, "Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s….Ye shall not need to fight in this battle:  set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem:  fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you."

 

What an amazing "battle plan"!   And Jehoshaphat worshipped God after receiving this word!  

 

You can read in 2 Chronicles 20 about how God’s plan worked!  And how Jehoshaphat appointed singers to go out before the army to praise the beauty of holiness and to say, "Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth forever."!  

 

Singers!  Now who’d have thought of that?!

 

God! 

 

In all that is going on around me, in all the turbulent and troubled news reports (which I don’t read all of them, by the way, preferring to keep my focus on Him!), in all the "what ifs" and things that could make my heart melt into a puddle of fear…..I choose to keep my eyes on Jesus.  As I spend more and more time with Him, just basking in His presence, adoring Him, loving Him and praising Him, the less these things move me.  I am not as anxious as I once was, because I know God can do more through a yielded and quieted soul full of Him than an anxious and fretful soul that is squeaking by on fumes.  If I try to "do things" out of a heart of fear, I will not hear Him and could actually be expending energy He wants to use elsewhere. 

 

We cannot legislate morality.  We can’t make everybody behave because the right people are in charge. 

 

But we can be Jesus to a hurting, dying world.  We can show them a better way.  We can turn the other cheek.  We can have the quiet assurance that "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me"–He has it ALL under His control.

 

I can walk with Him, touching Him by faith and letting Him fill me, permeating me with His presence so that I can anoint all I touch with His presence.

 

If I must suffer for righteousness’ sake, I want to make sure it’s HIS righteousness and not my self-righteousness!  I want to point others to Him–if they look to me and my "standards" or my "beliefs", they may have something to refute or mock or pick at.  But if they must look to Jesus, then they must make a decision of what to do about Him.  I want to be the clean vessel He flows through, not clogging up the flow with my bright idea of how the battle should go!

 

There’s a time to write, and fight, and stand. 

 

But first we must be on our knees and praising. (and singing!)

 

Let’s take the events going on around us as a call to prayer!