“And the Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. Then there came out a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith?” (2 Chronicles 18:19, 20 KJV)
Bodybuilding. Any time that a person, an organization, a community, or any other body grows; changes are needed. Some to expand the areas that we are trying to grow. Others to reduce what is no longer needed. A great deal of planning, expense, and changes to our schedule are also involved. This brings out a desire in us to do this right. We might ask a buddy for their input, we might find someone who has been really successful at this before, and most importantly we might seek guidance from God. At least the smart people do.
Now, why do I throw that out there? There are alot of successful people out there. Most of them are highly intelligent. Many of them even pen their story in a really good book that speaks clearly to what needs done when and in what order; all for a reasonable price. How is it that the truly smart people are seeking guidance from God? Let’s talk about that for a second. Seeking guidance from God involves prayer or some other means of making our requests known to God. Even though God likely knows more details about the request than we likely do prior to us even making the request to Him (see Matthew 6:32). Yet, God still wants us to make the requests anyhow (see Matthew 6:33 and 1 Peter 5:6,7). This is largely to properly posture us in a humble state along with making it more clear to anyone watching who actually made this request a reality. So, taking a focused look at the actual prayer reveals something interesting.
The best prayer time is not spent in offloading our burdens, although there is great relief in doing so, but is spent in listening and observing. We find that as large as our stack of burdens are, and as critical as the top few items on that list may actually be, once we have left those at the feet of Jesus, we see all that we are concerned about can easily fit into a thimble compared with what He is doing (see also Romans 11:33-36). Even more telling is that when we have come to him, stop and listen to Him, spend time in scripture, and wait for next steps; that God often begins to point out things that need fixed within our realm so that we are able to grow to that next level. In fact, not only does He point out things that need to be addressed, but they are things that are almost never on our list. This is often because there are things that we cannot see, things that we could not know, things that we need courage to move forward with, and things that we may not have even thought relevant to the initial goal. Yet on further review they are. And no matter how many good reads that we have processed through on the effort, they only beckon us to listen to God even more closely.
Can I offer a few obvious examples? When you use the phrase “Our Father”, does the “our” ever show up as someone we were praying against that needs to show up as a brother? Or the phrase “daily bread”. Does it ever come back as a day by day provision versus a paid in full before we start? Or does the phrase “as we forgive our debtors” ever boomerang back to remind us of our shortcomings and the criticality of our extending forgiveness? You see that these are not merely words that we speak with good form. They are words written that we might hear with an increased clarity what people in a sinful world become increasingly deaf to. Always bring your cares to Christ; yet stay there long enough to listen to the volumes of what Jesus has to say.
“There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.” (Proverbs 19:21 KJV)