07/16/2019
Do you live your spiritual life eating day old bread? Do you pray on Sunday, and then go for days without seeking the Lord’s presence? It is easy for us to convince ourselves that we prayed for something once, and that should be enough, or that God sees what we need and He doesn’t need to be reminded. However, He wants us to reach out to Him every day, because this is what it means to be in relationship.
“Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.”
Exodus 16:21 ESV
Why was it that the Lord only provided the wandering Israelites food for one day at a time? It wasn’t because He couldn’t figure out how to make a food that would last a week or longer... it was so that they would be dependent on Him, and would come to Him every day (except of course when that same bread miraculously lasted two days on the day before the Sabbath). it is the same with us; God wants us to walk with him every day, and to come constantly to Him in prayer. This is how much He loves us, and wants to keep us in His company, and this is so that we never forget that we are His children... and so we pray daily, quite often repetitively...
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Matthew 6:11-13 ESV
We don’t pray this one time when we are first saved... this is an everyday prayer, and sometimes several times a day. My wife and I talk every day, and quite often we speak about the same things over and over again. Take for instance an upcoming trip... we talk about when we are leaving, how long we will stay, what we will take, where we will lodge, what we will eat, the things we will do and see when we arrive, and all the minute details surrounding our adventure together. We might do this for months ahead of a really big vacation or an exciting trip. We don’t do this because we have forgotten what we spoke of yesterday, but because we are in relationship, and this is part of our being coupled together. This bonds us. It is the same in faith... God wants us to travel with Him, and He wants us to consult Him, and share with Him our excitement and needs. Then as we are living out the planned adventure together, He wants to experience our wonder and thanksgiving in all He has provided, and He wants to delight in us, just as He did Solomon...
“Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on his throne as king... "
2 Chronicles 9:8 ESV
As we walk and talk with Him day after day our bond becomes stronger, and we begin to lean on Him as a matter of course. We gain strength as we grow in our relationship...
“Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be.”
Deuteronomy 33:25 ESV
Suddenly we find that we don’t have to plan our walks with Him because they come every day... they are intimate, and ingrained in our daily life together. This was true of Adam and Eve, and it is true of us as well. They didn’t hear God whistling and calling their name, they knew His sound... his rustling and footsteps, maybe even the way He breathed, or stopped to enjoy the view. This was normal to them and happened each evening when it was cool, relaxing, and night was about to fall. It happened on the normal days, the exciting days, sad days, and even on the day when they sinned...
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"”
Genesis 3:8-9 ESV
God called Adam because he hadn’t revealed himself as he normally would have. We shouldn’t need for God to call us either. If our relationship is right we should be rushing to meet him; we should be in our prayer closet, in church, kneeling at our bedside, thanking Him when we eat... we should be running to Him with the news of our day, and calling out to Him when we are sad, or in need... these are the places where He expects to find us, and this is where we will hear the sound of Him coming.
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17 ESV
So do we pray without ceasing, repetitively, and in every sad or joyous moment of our life? Do we hear him coming and run to Him? Do we greet Him with love, confession, contrition, thanksgiving, admiration, and all those things Jesus taught us? Do we reach out to Him every hour of every day, and in all we do? Are we excited about this journey, this adventure, that we are on with Him? If you don’t feel this way then turn to Him today... and begin to learn the sound of His coming, and live in a relationship of great joy and expectation.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for wanting to walk with us every day, and go talk with us each minute and hour. Thank you Holy Father for your provision; for the manna of life that is new every morning, and which sustains us all the day long. Thank you Lord because your blessings are fresh, and never lose their flavor. Hear us Merciful Father as we call out to you in the gardens of life, and know that we long to hear the sound of your coming, and the touch of your hand. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is faithful and true... who is with us always, and relishes in gladness all you do for us. Praised be your name in the midst of my daily prayers, and the sudden storms from which I shout your name. Great is your strength and perfect the hand that feeds us. We worship you Lord, and listen intently for the sound of your coming... come Lord Jesus!
“He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”
Revelation 22:20-21 ESV
Rich Forbes