PRAY!
Can you think of a time when you cried
out to the Lord in a moment of desperation or need?
What do you remember about the
situation? If you were anything like the Israelites, you were begging for a
life-saving way out. They saw the rolling Red Sea in one direction and heard
the approaching Egyptian army from the other. The Message reads, “They were
totally afraid. They cried out in terror to God” (v. 10b).
And this wasn’t really even a cry of
faith! They followed it up by asking Moses why he took them out of Egypt just to
let them die in the wilderness. “Weren’t the cemeteries large enough in Egypt
so that you had to take us out here to die…?” (v. 11, The Message)
But even if their prayer wasn’t filled
with faith, at least they prayed it. At least the Israelites showed us that
“when we can’t press forward, move sideward, or step backward, it’s time to
look upward and to ask God to make a way” (Morgan, 44).
Do you ever hesitate to cry out to God,
thinking that if He was going to fix a situation, He would have done it before
now OR that He would never let things get so out of control? No? Just me? Well,
it is in the seemingly improbable and impossible times that I learn best to let
go and to let God do things in His time and in His way.
I recently cried out to God concerning a
financial situation for someone I love. Several voices told her not to expect
any assistance from her insurance company and they sounded like thundering
Egyptians to our ears. Knowing we needed reinforcements, I invited several
others to pray for the ‘Red Sea of bureaucracy’ to open up, allowing the needed
monies to become available. Week after week, it was incredible to see claims
being approved. The naysayers had said, “They’ll never approve this and, if somehow
they do, it’ll just be for a few days of treatment.” And yet, forty-two days
later, everything was covered (minus the deductible, of course).
Robert Morgan pointed out, “God doesn’t
always say yes to all our requests, but He listens with unusual attentiveness
when two or three gather in united prayer – and He responds in His own way and
time with power and wisdom.”
Does God welcome crisis-time praying? Here’s
one possible response: “Humble yourself, therefore, under God’s mighty hand,
that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He
cares for you” (I Peter 5:6-7). How can you work on a stronger set of prayer
habits during this season?
Questions to Ponder:
· Can
you think of a time when you cried out to God in a moment of desperation or
need? Jot down your recollection of the occasion.
· How
can prayer help us transition from panic to peace AND from peace to praise?
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