Patient Prayer

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

The Lord is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid?  The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?

 …Teach me how to live, O Lord.  Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me.  Do not let me fall into their hands.  For they accuse me of things I’ve never done; with every breath they threaten me with violence.  Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living.  Wait patiently for the Lord.  Be brave and courageous.  Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.  Psalm 27:1, 11-14

Did you ever do that thing as a kid (or – gulp – as an adult)?  The pastor preached on being patient in prayer, waiting on God’s answer…and your prayer was more like, God, show me a sign and I’ll believe…I mean, right NOW, God!

The author of this Psalm was undoubtedly King David.  It is a prayer laid at God’s feet to do-with as God will.  He asked for God to teach him how to live in the crisis of a lifetime.  He was completely innocent in his thoughts and actions for which powerful people had targeted him.  He tried to live a clean, useful, and Godly life, but he’d been unjustly accused.  In this pickle David lifted his life towards the God who had always rescued and blessed him, and said:  Lord, I need an answer, and I’ll wait…no matter how long it takes.  This is patient prayer!

There are those times when we shoot a prayer heavenward in a crisis.  Before the days of cell phones I was on a dark road one night, and the muffler fell off my old car.  It was still attached, but dragging, and I couldn’t untangle it from the mess of bolts and hangers.  It would have been dawn before I could walk to the house.  Driving the car meant sparks flying from the muffler dragging against the road.  Visions of explosions danced in my brain.  My arms ached from trying to either rig the muffler back in place, or yank it off the car.  Nothing I did worked! My only hope was one of those “arrow prayers” and God’s immediate answer.  I prayed, Lord, help me here, I’m out of options and strength.  I pushed once more, and was totally-shocked that the muffler went back in place – and stayed there! 

Once, on another dark road.  It was raining, the tire was flat, and I didn’t have a clue how to get the wheel off.  (The hubcaps on my new car had a key, secreted away so well by the manufacturer it required a search warrant to find).  I stood there in the rain, dead cell phone in hand, staring at my useless new car in the mud.  I was stuck…again!  (Thanks to a State Trooper who “just happened to be there” I made it home…again!)

It's so hard to wait, to be patient when it seems your world is crumbling.  Mufflers and flat tires are minor crises.  What about marriages that fall apart, or loved ones who are on death’s doorstep?  What about a catastrophe that is going to wipe-out your life savings and put you in bankruptcy, and add you to the homeless statistics?  How can you wait silently and patiently when those kinds of elephants walk in your room?  The key for those, and any other crisis, is patience.  And that does not mean just taking deep breaths, or reading another self-help book, or frantically-searching Google for a government program.  It’s much simpler, and more commonly ignored, but light-years better than that.  The answer is staying close enough to God to hear Him whisper:  Hey, bud…be brave and courageous; I’ve got this one too!

For You Today 

You were created with enough faith for whatever God knew you were going to face in this life.  Stay close to the Author and Source of that Faith, and you’ll learn to be patient until He brings that which you never imagined or asked-for to knock-down the wall, or open the door!  Wait patiently, quietly…for His whisper.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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