Let my words be few...





I've been thinking a lot lately about prayer in this season of Lent. On this subject, I'm challenged by the words recorded in Ecclesiastes:

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2  Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few
-Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 ESV

Let your words be few...that's profound right? I've kept prayer journals and lots of prayer lists over the years and, while those are not bad per say, sometimes God would like us to be simply in His presence in silence.

Silence? No words? That is difficult for us modern followers of Jesus isn't it?

Maybe our challenge in this season is to speak less and listen more to what God is saying to us. In the words of Messiah Jesus, "When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
-Matthew 6:7-8 ESV

Lord, we simply want to bask in Your Presence today, Amen. 


Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My eye is not on the density of the fog but on the living God...

Image
Too good not to share this! “ I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me .” (Acts 27:25.) I WENT to America some years ago with the captain of a steamer, who was a very devoted Christian. When off the coast of Newfoundland he said to me, “The last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, something happened which revolutionized the whole of my Christian life. We had George Mueller of Bristol on board. I had been on the bridge twenty-four hours and never left it. George Mueller came to me, and said, “Captain, I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec Saturday afternoon.” “It is impossible,” I said. “Very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I have never broken an engagement for fifty-seven years. Let us go down into the chart-room and pray.” I looked at that man of God, and thought to myself, what lunatic asylum can that man have come from? I never heard of such a thing as this. “Mr. Mueller,” I said, “do you know how dense this fog is?” “No,” h...
Read more

Signs...

Image
There is a sign in our kitchen at home that says "Gather" right above our oven cabinets. Since we love to eat with friends and family often, it is a fitting reminder of some of the things that bring us life. Do you have a sign somewhere at home? Maybe your sign is a decal on your car or a poster on the wall. I'm sure if you have one, it has special significance to you. Signs can guide us and provide meaning and direction. Signs can warn us of danger and lead us home. In Matthew 16 (echoing chapter 12), Jesus is asked by the Jewish religious leaders for a sign. He declines to do so likely because He knew no sign would convince them He was the Messiah. He tells them to ponder the sign of Jonah and then walks away. Many of those religious leaders had already seen and or heard of His powerful miracles yet they still missed the reality that those signs revealed the Kingdom of God. I hope we don't miss any of the signs God may still send us in our lives of faith. May we be ...
Read more
Image
I sometimes get a bit down with my physical self. I'll complain inwardly about my poor eyesight, bad hearing, and desire to consume things that are bad for me. Hmmm. That reminds me of an old Alan Jackson song called "Everything I Love"... Anyway, I digress... We are told in Scripture that our bodies are special temples where God dwells - His presence in and through us is powerful. It's crazy to think about. Listen to the Apostle Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 4:7ff (NT Wright's New Testament for Everyone translation): But we have this treasure in earthenware pots, so that the extraordinary quality of the power may belong to God, not to us. 8 We are under all kinds of pressure, but we are not crushed completely; we are at a loss, but not at our wits’ end; 9 we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are cast down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry the death of Jesus about in the body, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body. AND... 16 For this...
Read more