Scripture
Our verse for today comes from 1 Samuel 1:27, ” For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. “
Background
Over the several years that I have worked where I currently do, three coworkers have shared with me some of the struggles they were having with their spouses. The first was a lady on her second marriage who was with a man who sounded rather disinterested as to whether he continued to be married to her or not. The next was a young woman with a son who had married cross-culturally, and her husband’s relationship with her and the boy had gradually deteriorated to where her love for him was gone. And the most recent was a man who had been married for twenty years, only to have his wife come to him and say that she no longer loved him. With each of these individuals, I listened to their stories and agonized over the pain that they were feeling. I advised where I could, prayed with or for them, and continued to lend an ear when appropriate. Unfortunately, all three marriages ended in divorce. As you might imagine, this failure rate concerning my attempts to help did not escape my notice. Although I am not a marriage counselor, nor a trained clergy, I did hope with all hope that my prayers and words would be heard, and that the marriages could be saved. But I must confess, I had far less belief than I did hope. Praying for the ” big ” things had never proven very successful for me, and I found myself expecting the same disappointing results for these friends.
Application
I’ve got six kids. One is in college, one is about to turn 18, one just turned 16, and four of the six are girls.
You would think that all I would do is pray. And I do pray for them, a lot. But what I also do now is believe, and for the ” big ” things. In my life, that hasn’t always been the case. But I believe with all my heart that God’s grace and mercy will be on my family, has been on my family. I still want to pray more, to pray differently. I have the time, in fact, the same twenty-four hours that Jesus was given each day. But it’s got to be a choice, and it’s got to be by faith. Where are you regarding your communication with your Father in heaven?
Charge
As we seek Him today, open up those lines of communication even more to deepen your relationship with our God, who is the God of the small and the big.
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Rich Holt / Originally Published on : BCWorldview.org
Also published on : Medium.com.
