Bible Prayers: discernment

Showing posts with label discernment. Show all posts

January 20, 2020

The conflicting prayers of Moses

Have you ever responded eagerly to a call by God only to have fear or apprehension enter the equation? Moses did.

At first, the Burning Bush consumed his curiosity – but, amazingly, not the bush! As he turned aside to better see, he immediately heard God’s call.

Moses answered like a school kid at roll call! But when he realized God wanted him to do something big, trepidations set in, and he begged God to send someone else.

You know the rest of the story. Despite his hesitation, Moses obeyed God’s will and did the job he’d been asked to do – leading God’s people out of slavery.

Exodus 3:4 – a prayer of Moses

And when the Lord saw that he (Moses)

turned aside to see,

God called unto him

out of the midst of the bush, and said,

Moses, Moses.

And he (Moses) said,

Here am I.

Exodus 4:13

And he (Moses) said,

O my Lord, send, I pray thee,

by the hand of him

whom thou wilt send.

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Exodus 3:4 – a prayer of Moses

Here I am, Lord.

Exodus 4:13

O Lord, send someone else!

May God help us to discern the tasks we’ve been given to do, trusting that the Lord will also give us everything we need to carry out the job.

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May 14, 2015

Prayer to discern the power and glory of God

Prayer-a-phrase of Ephesians 1:17-21

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ –
the glorious Father –
give you a spirit of wisdom
and the knowledge revealed
to know Him.

May the eyes of your heart
be so filled with light,
you may know
what hope you have
in God’s call,

what riches of glory you’ve inherited
with the holy ones,

what exceeding power God has
for us who believe –

the same power shown by raising
Christ from the dead and
seating Him at His right hand
in heavenly places found
far above every principality,
authority, power, domain,
and every other name we can name –
not only in this age but the one to come.

© 2015, Mary Harwell Sayler prayer-a-phrased today’s reading in Ephesians by using several of the many translations provided online by Bible Gateway.

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June 21, 2013

Here I am, Lord

Background: Even as a child, the future prophet Samuel heard the voice of God. Tended by Eli in the Temple, the boy slept near the Ark of the Covenant, which housed the tablets of law God had given to Moses.

Physically, the priest Eli had begun to lose his vision, but spiritually, the whole Hebrew nation had begun to lose sight of God. Visions and the word of the LORD came rarely, but even so, someone had to see or hear. Someone had to be open, childlike, and receptive to God.

So the LORD called the boy Samuel.
By name, God called, “Samuel, Samuel,”
and immediately
the boy got up and ran to Eli, saying,
“Here I am for you called.” But
Eli said, “No, I didn’t. Go back to bed.”

Samuel obeyed, but again
the LORD called, “Samuel!”
So again Samuel got up and
hurried to Eli, saying, “Here
I am for you called me.” But again
Eli said, “I did not call you, my son.
Go back to bed.”

Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD,
nor did he know the word of the LORD,
but the LORD called the boy a third time.
And again Samuel got up and went to Eli,
saying, “Here I am for you called me.”

Finally the priest discerned
what was happening.
The third time Eli learned
the LORD called,
and so he said, “Go back to bed,
and if the call comes again, say,
‘Speak, LORD,
for Your servant is listening’.”

Obeying, the boy hurried to bed,
and soon the LORD came to the child
and said, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel said, “Speak, LORD,
for Your servant is listening.”

So the word of the LORD, the plan
of the LORD came to Samuel, a child,
and that night a prophet
was born
in a child – an obedient child,
who heard the word of the LORD
and listened.

Post Script: The word God gave to Samuel that night was hard to hear! In essence, God told the child that Eli and his blasphemous sons would be punished for their disobedience and lose their place in the Temple forever!

Poor little Samuel didn’t sleep that night! He surely did not want to be the one to tell this hard news to Eli – the very priest who had tended him since early childhood! Eli probably sensed this but did the right thing, insisting that the boy hide nothing from him but tell him everything God had said.

Samuel did, and most likely, that hard decision strengthened the boy. Instead of depending solely on Eli as he grew up, Samuel grew closer and closer to God in his life-long dependence on the LORD.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler prayer-a-phrased 1 Samuel 3:1-21 from today’s Daily Bible Readings.

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