I LOVE ROLLER COASTERS! 

         ANY KIND AND ANY DESCRIPTION.

How about you?

But sometimes, our lives seem to be on an unplanned roller coaster. And that describes our household. A few weeks ago, our dog, Piper, was diagnosed with diabetes and, shortly after that, lost her eyesight. Amazing how adaptable to her situation she has been! Constant blood glucose checks, insulin shots, learning to walk up and down the steps that she cannot see, no longer free to run our large yard as she once was able to do.

We often say that God is faithful – and He is. But when our lives take an abrupt turn, it is then that we are reminded of His faithfulness. God provided a naturopathic vet who has made two house calls and has started Piper on eye drops that hopefully will dissolve her cataracts. God has met every need – at every moment.

When we find that our life is riding the ups and downs, the sharp curves of emotions and decisions, where do we turn?

PRAYER

A definition I read recently for prayer: the means that God has provided that brings down the power of heaven into my own experience. I like this definition for prayer as it describes the means for victory – the power of heaven – the Holy Spirit within each believer.

In an earlier post, ‘Timber,’ January 9, I referred to an incident in 1 Samuel 14. Remember Jonathan and his armor-bearer trusted Jehovah when He said that Israel would be victorious over the Philistines. Jonathan and his armor-bearer climb the cliffs to where the enemy was camped while his father, King Saul, and the army of Israel were asleep under a tree.

In that first attack, Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre. Then panic struck the whole Philistine army; the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God. Saul’s lookouts saw the Philistine army melting away in all directions. Upon seeing the Philistines in retreat, what does Saul do next? Wouldn’t you think he would join the battle? No, instead, he calls for the priests to bring the Ark of God to him. It seems like a spiritual action that one would do; pray and seek direction from the Lord. After all, how can you act without knowing God’s will? We would likely do the same as Saul.

Remember that during the Old Testament period, the Ark represented the place where God dwelled – God was in the midst of the moment. The Israelites never forgot the safety the Ark provided for them as they crossed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. (Joshua 3:13) Nor how they carried it around the walled city of Jericho for six days, and then on the seventh day, armed men and priests did the same, but the people shouted a great shout, and the walls of Jericho fell – flat! (Joshua 6)

Because of these great miracles, the nation of Israel believed that the mere possession of the Ark meant God’s favor was upon them. They had lost sight of the reason for the Ark of the Covenant; they looked to the Ark for safety rather than Jehovah. But back to our subject passage in 1 Samuel 14. 

While Saul was talking with the priest, the noise from the battle became louder and louder, becoming very disruptive. So much noise, Saul decided that there was no time for meaningful prayer, reflective in his words, “Withdraw your hand.” God had already told Saul that the victory was his; why did he decide it was time to pray? He already knew what he was supposed to do.

Have you ever felt that you were one step behind everyone else? You show up for the task after it has already been completed. Possibly you have had the same experience with divine opportunities God places in front of you. But you show up one instant too late, and God has given your opportunity to another.

Saul missed his divine opportunity. He was sleeping when he should have been fighting, praying when he should have been moving, advancing with God as Jonathan and his armor-bearer were doing. Saul struggled to do the right thing at the right time.

Was the problem that God’s instructions to Saul were not clear?

Were they confusing?

Let’s see what we can learn from the Word.

Consider the incident at Gilgal when Saul offered a sacrifice. Even though, as king, he knew Samuel was God’s authorized agent to make the offering before the Lord, he made the offering in Samuel’s place. Samuel had instructed Saul to wait seven days, and he would join him at Gilgal to make the sacrifice. But when Samuel did not arrive early enough on the seventh day, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered a sacrifice. When Samuel came, he rebuked Saul not for acting in ignorance but for disobeying what God had commanded him to do. (See 1 Samuel 10:8; 13: 8-14)

Saul knew to wait on Samuel, but he chose not to. He understood to go to war, but he didn’t. It was not because God’s will was so challenging to comprehend that he kept missing his divine moments. It was clearly because he did not trust God to act on His Word.

Do not miss the point: God has not remained silent.

He has spoken both through the Word, Who has walked among us, and through His Word that He has written to guide us.

Live out what God has already said, and you will not find God silent.

On the surface, Saul appeared to be deeply spiritual when he called the priest of God to bring the Ark of God so he could seek God’s guidance on what to do. It is essential to seek God’s face, take time to enter God’s presence and be transformed by who He is. To live a prayerless life is to miss the life that God created you to experience. Yet, there are times when prayer can become a religious veil for an empty life.

For some reason, we have the misconception that God is impressed with how much we pray, how many lofty words we recite. If one danger regarding prayer is prayerless, another is to pray without genuinely making contact with God.

Prayer is not about informing God of our needs, nor is it even about trying to convince God to help us; God is not insensitive to our needs. Prayer is about connecting with God. It is about experiencing His presence and moving with Him in intimate communion.

God is eager to give us both His gifts and Himself if we ask Him, yet there is an even greater and more subtle danger in the arena of prayer.

It is the way we cleverly use prayer not to seek God’s will but to delay our obedience to His will.

While Saul was praying, Jonathan was obeying. While Saul was trying to figure out the will of God, Jonathan was busy working out the will of God.

Prayer can be a religious form of rebellion. While pretending a need to get clarity from God, we are avoiding what God has made clear. Even though the instructions are clear, even though God’s will is written without confusion, we deceive ourselves by claiming a need to seek God in prayer.

Sometimes it is more difficult to obey than to pray!

Praying about things already decided and confirmed by His Word is wasting our time and missing divine moments. However, we are not positioned to seize divine moments when we neglect prayer.

The spiritual environment that we desire to live in means that we must be in continuous conversation with God because prayer keeps us in step with God’s Spirit and in tune with His voice, sensitive to every prompting and whisper of God.

We do not need to pray about loving, forgiving, or confessing our faith. Nor whether we should be arrogant or humble, takers or givers, indulgers or servers. God has already spoken on all these and more. When we pray about them, God confirms what He has said with the added words: ‘Why are you waiting to obey?’

Saul was praying when he should have been obeying. Are we using prayer as a way of resisting God’s will rather than as a way of accessing God’s will? The purpose of prayer is to know God, in knowing Him, to hear God’s voice, and understand that God has heard our voice. The result of this kind of prayer is a pliable heart, so we move with God, wherever He is calling.