Do the prayers we pray, make sense to ourselves? to God?
I've a feeling that sometimes...they don't...
not because we don't mean them...
(it strikes me that we mean EVERY prayer we pray,
because alot of prayers are desperation prayers...HELP GOD!!)
But yeah...do our chats with God make sense?
In light of knowing that God knows us so well,
and that there is nothing within us that is hidden from Him,
how is it, that sometimes, we can try to run and evade from...even God?
The idea when it is brought to the front, seems utterly absurd...
but we do it anyway, and we do it unthinkingly...just as a natural reflex
And maybe, right there, we get a glimpse of how Adam & Eve felt in the garden,
When God asked them that first question,
9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 He [Adam] said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden,
and I was afraid because I was naked;
so I hid myself.”
Genesis 3:9,10
We reflect exactly what Adam did, there is no escaping that recognition,
We hide, run, try to escape the eyes of God, eventhough it is a futile gesture
And we do so because...we are afraid to be naked, real, authentic with God.
We talk so much about being authentic & real, but even to the Lover of our souls,
we are afraid to show ourselves with our scars, wounds and imperfections...
but really...does He NOT know?
He Loves us not based on any such thing, but simply because He Loves us!
11 And He [God] said, “Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man [Adam] said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me,
she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:11,12
Is it startling to note that man & women walked in the garden with God, NAKED?
The best picture I have of this is of little babies, running around, having fun,
and you know, they have such a Joy and innocence about them when they do! =)
We were MEANT to have and enjoy that kind of unabashed exhilaration with God!
Yet In verse 12, we see another trait of human nature we inherited from Adam & Eve,
it is called, blame shifting...and we do it, because we cannot face the mistakes we make,
it's always easier to blame something or someone else...
The contrast of that Joy of being being naked before God,
to needing to hide & blame shift really hits home...
Even if we deny it, our human nature testifies to a deceitfulness of sin,
and we betray ourselves frequently...apart from God we are lost...really lost...
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman,
“What is this you have done?”
And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:13
When questioned, would we take a long hard look at ourselves?
Or would we continue to run, hide & blame shift?
Here in verse 13, realisation dawns...and it is a 2-part realisation...
the first is..."The serpent deceived me...", I doubted the truth of God & believed lies,
and the second is "...I ate", an honest admission of sin and wrongdoing.
And I think, the dark, ugly realisation of ourselves is what we really need to see,
So that we realise that there is really no righteousness in ourselves, only in Christ.
And how, in all our dealings, we have proven that God really knows us well...
and He gave us scriptures to show us that He knows, yet Loves us all the same.
25 "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie,
and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator..."
Romans 1:25
Yet, in spite of all of that, God still chose to Love us,
and to give us the greatest gift, the sacrifice lamb, Jesus Christ,
so that we may live a life of complete fullness and wholeness in Him,
and so that, in our imperfections, we may show how His Love shines through.
Wesleyan Covenant Prayer
I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you,
exalted for you or brought low for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
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