Teach Me Your Way

"Teach me your way O Lord; I will walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name." 

Psalm 86:11 (NASB)

I think that often times we get things backward.  Prayer is one that sometimes reveals more about our theology than we would even care to think about.  For instance.  If we were to ask the question of who comes first, God or you, how would you answer.  Most of us would of course answer that God and His desires and commands come first and that I am secondary.  We know that this answer is good theologically.  And then we pray.  

I want to run a simple test.  Pick a time that you plan on praying and just do a few basic mathematical calculations.  Every time you say something about God and His character and His nature add 10 points.  When you give God praise for things He has done that do not directly involve you or someone close to you add 10 points.  Then make a second column.  In this column, add 10 points every time you ask God for something.  In the second column, add 10 points every time you request something from God on behalf of someone that is close to you.  Add 10 points every time you tell God the best thing that he should do.  Add 10 points every time you wonder what God has not done what you have been praying for.  Now compare the two columns.  An even score would mean that your prayer is 50/50 focused on you and God.  I am not sure that is even a good number, but so often my prayers are not even.  My prayers tend to be out of balance on the side of focusing on me and my needs.  I need the AC to come back on at work.  I need the struggle I am having to be resolved.  I need my friends' illnesses to be cured.  I need my acquaintances' family members needs to be met.  I need provision.  I need compassion in a difficult problem.  I need, I need, I need, I want.  And at the Amen, I have spent far more time talking about me than about God.

All of this is not to say that asking God for the cares of our hearts is a bad thing, it is not.  It is a very good thing and is even commanded in Scripture.  But I think when the psalmist prays that God would teach him His ways, this is a much needed element of our prayers that is often missing.  We focus so much on what we want God to do that we miss the work He needs to do in us.  

Teach me God to walk in your way.  I want to do the things that please you instead of demanding that you do the things that please me.  Make my heart to desire to serve and obey you in all that I do and use my prayer life to enable and accomplish this.  Amen.

Family

This last week my in-laws came for a visit.  What kind of blog do you anticipate will follow?  I think that so often we lose the value of the impact of family in our lives.  We often focus so much on difficulty and differences that we miss opportunities for impact.  I am reminded of the exhortations to Titus to allow the older men to strengthen younger men and older women teaching younger women.  What a blessing when this can happen in the context of a family as well. 

I for one am so grateful to see the impact that my in-laws (and my parents as well) have on my kids. The way that they are so spoiled is a small price to pay for the investment their grandparents are making in their lives.  If there is no other impact other than to let my kids know that time with them is valued, I believe it is worth the investment.  My kids know that their grandparents want to spend time with them.  This in turn supports the value that my wife and I consistently remind them they are created with.  But there is the joy of knowing that my parents and in-laws share the same values that we do.  We serve the same God together.  This is incredible. 

I could go on and on, but I simply want to give a public thank you.  I want to remind all of us of the incredible value of pouring into and investing in the life of someone else.  Perhaps you cannot do this with your own family for whatever reason.  In this case, find someone younger than you and work to pour into their life.  Listen to them.  Spend time with them.  And in so doing you will be accomplishing something far deeper than you may ever know.  Your investment will have long-lasting rewards!

Arise O God and Plead Your Own Cause

This is almost an excerpt from the sermon that I preached on Sunday, but I think it bears repeating, and I am trusting that some who are not able to hear my preach each week are reading this blog.  Psalm 74:22 says, "Arise, O God, and plead your own cause. .  ."  (NASB)  I believe that this is so fitting for us to remember.  Sometimes I think that as Christians we forget just how powerful that God is.  Like the psalmist, we see the apparent inaction of God and we immediately rush to His aid as if we could actually assist Him in any meaningful way.  We see the agenda of those around us winning and we rush to legislate and complain and cry out.  Many times, in the midst of our attempts to defend God we fail in our love for the world around us and actually do more harm than good.  This is not to say that we should not stand for truth, we should.  This is not to say that we should not speak truth in love - we should.  This is to say that when the name of God is maligned it is not our role to defend God.  He simply does not need it.  A rapper named Propaganda once said that defending God is like defending a lion - it does not need your help, just let it out of its cage. 

This frees us a great deal.  We do not have to prove God exists.  We do not have to defend God and make him logically palatable to the lost and dying world around us.  Instead our role should be to call for God to arise and plead His own cause.  God can do better work than I can.  So why not let God do the work and watch the work that He chooses to do.  I think that when we approach life in this way we benefit.  After all, when I begin to look for the work of God instead of looking for how much of the work of God looks like what I want to accomplish, it changes my priorities.  It also is encouraging because it allows me to see a broader scope of what God is doing.  God is active and His Word is active.  And His Spirit is active.  And through their power God is moving in hearts and lives even in the midst of my church.  And when I stop telling God what He should do and trust that He knows how to plead His own cause, I can actually see much of what He is already doing!  I just have to open my eyes!