The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry -- Psalm 34:15
I was praying about a situation this morning, and I noticed that I was what you might call conflicted about it. Our realities are not neat and clean, walled off from the rest of the cosmos. There are tendrils that run into other areas, often underground like the roots of a tree. A hidden network can tie together seemingly unrelated events or issues.
We may find that our intercession is not ringing true, even in our own ears. Sometimes this is because of an attack of the enemy or because of doubts on our part, but it may also be that the Holy Spirit is challenging us to lift our eyes and look around a little, peek over the hedge and see what we’re really up against.
What I may find is there need to be some changes I am not really that interested in seeing occur. That’s what I realized about the situation this morning. When I looked around I saw that there are some positive aspects to the status quo from my perspective. If my plea for my friend is heard, I may suffer something of a loss – in this case it is only psychological; nevertheless, it was hindering me. It left me, as James says, double-minded. I had to alter my praying for a little while and first deal with my own attitude before I could move on to intercede for the other.
Prayer is the hardest work imaginable. It is literally doing the impossible. Yet it is as simple and natural, as prosaic and pragmatic as breathing. There’s no paradox – as with breathing, it’s a matter of whether my head is above water or below.
The Lord sees and hears the righteous, and righteousness begins with humility. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Can You hear me now?
No comments:
Post a Comment