In my quiet time with God I have been going through a book
"A Woman's Call to Prayer"
by Elizabeth George
and have been challenged in quite a few areas of my life.
Today I studied on 'being disappointed by others'.
As much as I know that it will happen...
it always hurts when it does happen.
My heart wants to close the door on that hurt,
and sometimes I do for a short period of time,
but I know the day will come when Jesus will ask
to journey with Him into that room of my heart,
and talk about the hurt and disappointment.
For the most part, I love people.
but sometimes it hurts to love people.
it hurts to care, and it hurts to be rejected.
I know that I could shut off my emotions,
and sometimes I do that, too,
for a short amount of time,
because it hurts too much to feel, to care,
to be rejected and disappointed.
I also know that if I shut off my emotions
for too long the devil will sow his seeds
of bitterness and it will result in me
becoming hardened emotionally towards others.
Sometimes when Jesus and I walk into that room
and we talk through the pain,
He points out a root of bitterness that is trying
to spring up and grow in my heart.
He knows that I don't want it there so He uproots it
He knows that I don't want it there so He uproots it
and throws it out. Uprooting can hurt, too,
but in that hurt He pours love and forgiveness.
Moses was disappointed with his brother, Aaron.
While Moses was up in the mountain
meeting with God and fasting,
Aaron led the children of Israel in making a golden calf to worship.
God was so angry with His people that He wanted to destroy them,
and Moses must have felt deep disappointment.
He had invested so many years and so much time
teaching them the ways of God,
and so quickly they turned to idol worship.
But what was Moses' response?
He "fell down before the Lord",
explaining "for I was afraid...so I prayed."
(Deut. 9:18-20)
What did Moses pray?
'Oh, these people have committed a great sin...
yet now, if You will forgive their sin--
but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which
You have written."
(Ex. 32:31-32)
Moses was willing to offer up not only
fasting and prayers on behalf of the people,
but also his life rather than see them
rejected, disowned, and destroyed.
Job prayed for his friends
after they wrongfully charged him with sin.
After receiving much criticism from his close companions,
he prayed for them.
He had just endured the loss of basically everything that he had-
family, health, and wealth,
and was suffering from terrible pain.
Yet he was patient and humble!
Samuel, the prophet, priest, and judge whom God had designated and established to lead His people was soundly rejected by the people of Israel. Yet in spite of their many unkindnesses and their ingratitude, Samuel could still pray for them because of his unselfishness and forgiving spirit.
What was his response?
"God forbid that I should sin against the Lord
in ceasing to pray for you."
Could...would... I have done what Moses did for his brother Aaron, who knew better than to sin in the way that he did?
And would I have been able to do for my "friends" what Job did for his, to pray for them... after they had disappointed him,
turned on him, let him down,
and raked him over the coals in wrongful judgment?
It is important that I grasp the meaning, the honor, the privilege, the seriousness, the duty--and the difficulty-- of this marvelous call to pray for others when they fail.
I must forgive.
"If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear."
I cannot carry a grudge toward a person, or allow bitterness or resentment to take root in my heart. If I do, I forfeit the opportunity to minister to that person through prayer.
My natural response is to write off those I am disenchanted with-- to no longer have anything to do with them, to distant myself from them. But God's Word has a word for me here...
I am to "forgive as I have been forgiven."
I am also to help them.
I must set aside my disappointment, forsake the lectures, forsake the judgment, forsake the shock, and go to work helping and praying for them, "taking heed lest I fall."
Correction, instruction, restoration, and rebuking are also biblical and necessary, but first I am to pray and help.
"If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted." Gal. 6:1
I must check my prayer list:
Am I praying regularly? daily?
Prayer is the sacred act that keeps my heart pure and right,
guileless and humble, no matter what a person has done
to harm or disappoint me.
I must check my heart:
If there anyone I am failing to forgive?
A forgiving heart is one that can pray for others.
And if I can't/won't forgive, consider this:
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
"Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."
"Forgive us as we forgive others."
I must check my relationships:
God calls me to love others-- even my enemies.
LOVE your enemies,
DO GOOD to those who hate you,
BLESS those who curse you, and
PRAY FOR those who spitefully use you.
I must also remember:
that just as I have been disappointed in others,
I am sure I have disappointed others.
I must pray "Search me, O God, and know my heart....
see if there be any wicked way in me."
If you are reading this blog and have been
disappointed or wronged by me,
I beg you to forgive me.
Samuel, Moses, Job
Could I be added to such a list of pray-ers?
or forgive-ers? of pure-hearted intercessors?
of helpers?
That's God's call to me and to you.
We are to pray for others.
We are to pray for those we love...
and for those who don't love us.
We are to pray for those we appreciate...
and for those who have
disappointed us and failed in their love.
We are to pray for those who faithfully serve God...
and for those who have stumbled in their walk with Him.
We are to "bear one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Gal. 6:2
What a high calling!
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