Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Praying Like a Camel

Wednesday, January 3, 2018
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?  Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?  You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it.  You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.  Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.  And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.  You adulterers!  Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  I say it again:  If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.  Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning?  They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.  And he gives grace generously.  As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  James 4:1-6(NLT)
The Apostle James is affectionately known as camel knees.  I’m not sure where that’s written in church historical documents, but it’s certainly a colorful and instructive picture.  It seems this half-brother of our Lord spent so much time in prayer that he had callouses on his kneeling parts that made him look like he had the front legs of a camel.  Now, I don’t know camels very well, other than the first-hand knowledge that they can “spit” up to 10 yards or more…with some measure of accuracy!  I’m also not sure they spend any time praying, so the comparison of a camel to a long-praying person (for me) ends with the knee-callouses, the measure of time spent in contact with the floor!
James makes the singular and monumental point that most of the strife in the world can be traced back to a culture that has either forgotten, or never learned to pray.
I’m certain that’s true in my life.  If prayer is merely a quickly-offered ritual to bless the pork chops and taters, or something reserved for the preacher during the weekly church thing, or the place we turn when life turns against us, then we’ve missed the point entirely!  Prayer is the on-going conversation with our holy and gracious Creator.  It is the moment-by-moment check-in that keeps us aligned with His will, and not wandering around chasing pleasures or stuff. 
And there is precious other option than the two.  You either wander or follow.  My pride makes me wander, chasing my dreams.  My praying helps me follow…doing His will.  And if that’s the case, it is always time to choose carefully which you will do.

For You Today

How about establishing a prayer life that’s more than a hiccup before you dive into breakfast?  Let’s pray together:
Lord, here we are in a new year that is barely out of the womb.  You have graciously placed breath in our lungs another day, and it is your glory that we live.  Help us to use this day in the cause of ending strife and wars, by ending the pride and selfish desires that want to drive us.  May we be people this year who develop knees like our camel friends…calloused, so our hearts won’t be!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Images: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

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