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Pursuing Answers to Questions of Faith & Life

Thursday, May 03, 2007

National Day of Prayer--Crying out to God

Today is the National Day of Prayer. I will be participating in events at the courthouse today at 12 PM. I hope that our hearts will truly be turned to God for a nation that truly needs His intervention on many levels. Is the turnout today in any way reflective of our spiritual hunger and urgency? It may be.

Why aren’t we crying out to God more?

Why is it that we only seem to cry out to the LORD in times of trouble? Why are we so hard hearted that we are unwilling to Call on His Name without some kind of kick in the pants? Here's a case in point.

Exodus 3:7-8a--"The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--"

There is great news in the passage--

  • God Sees
  • God Hears our Cries
  • God is Concerned
  • God Will Come Down to Rescue
  • God Will Bring Us Up & Out

But don't you think that God would be willing to see our situations, hear our cries, be concerned for our lives, come down to us, and bring us to a better place without all of the calamity and suffering?

I think He would much rather have us do all that without the struggle and suffering involved. In many ways, He waits for us to cry out to Him. In the good times, we don't, myself especially included. When we're comfortable, we don't pray with as much energy, as much passion, as much desperation, as much time, as much heart-felt conviction and dependence. He longs to gather us in under His wings, but we are not willing unless there is a hawk flying over, about to strike.

It's like he's waiting for the phone to ring, but we treat His number more like 911. No one calls 911 unless there’s an emergency. I hope and pray we will have the desire, the hunger, the urgency to call upon Him—for His sake—because He alone is worth it—and not because we must be prodded into the action.

What kind of prods has God used in your life? What kinds of prods has He used in getting America to cry out to Him?

Pursuing Answers to Questions of Faith & Life,

Kelly

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