Sunday, March 18, 2012

lambs just bleat


We pray more by simply showing our need to the merciful shepherd than by any complex beseeching. Lord, see my need.

We get distracted by things we don’t need. We have many prayers to make, many requests. There seems to be very little time to bring to God all we’d like to say.

We often have to choose between praise, adoration, thanksgiving and supplication in our times of prayer. There is so little time to accomplish all four in one sitting.

Keeping a prayer journal doesn't seem to help, either. We maintain it for a season and then it ends up in the bottom of our sock drawer, somehow still collecting dust though covered in cotton. Maybe this is because we are left feeling like we’re composing the Book of Life in which millions of names are written in blood. There is no way to keep up with it all; we’re not God.

That’s right. You’re not God. He is. And he sees. And he is the author of simplicity. He thunk it, he did. Whew! Thank God. (“You’re welcome,” he replies.)

As the God of simplicity he would have you come to him with one thing, just one. What is it today? Do you need joy? Just ask, simply. Are you tired? Tell him; he’ll even let you fall asleep in the middle of telling him. Imagine that! Have you been misunderstood by someone? He knows and he understands; just bring him your need. Do you just want to sing a hymn that was dear to you when you were nine? You needn’t keep pitch. Or rhythm. Just sing, “I need thee, O, I need thee!” Lambs can only bleat when they want to let their shepherd know they need something.

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans,for they think they will be heard because of their many words…Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. -Matthew 6:7-8

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