Day 11 May 4, 2006 National Day of Prayer
Reflection: I will thank you, LORD, in front of all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. (Ps 108:3)
Have you rejected us, O God? Will you no longer march with our armies? (Ps 108:11)
Here are two apparently contradictory verses - from the same Psalm - that capture two parts of the wide range of human experience. The desire to publicly parade God's glory to the people who don't know Him, while privately harboring questions about God's presence and His apparent lack of help. Actually, they form a whole. Acknowledging the reality of both will bring a balance to both our public testimony to God, and our private devotion and security in Him. For the first, by itself, will lead us into an unrealistically happy optimism that will leave us bewildered and shaken by the storms of life, while the second, alone, will make us gloomy pessimists with little hope. But by freely acknowledging both we can have the fire of praise and joy in God, while being tempered with the realism that life does not always turn out the way we want.
Adoration: Lord! Thank you for being Yourself. Greater than the nations - even our own! You have given us great promises that through You we can overcome our enemies - but greater than that, You have promised us Yourself; that You will be with us through adversity, too.
Confession: Lord, I confess that so often I have swung from one extreme to the other in my relationship with You. From joys of ecstasy to the depths of despair - forgetting that You do not change. I should know by now that whatever state I am in, I can be secure in You.
Thanksgiving: Thank You, Lord, for you know our state, our short sightedness, our fickle emotions, our instabilities and mood swings. You joy with us, and weep with us, and possibly even wonder with us. We can know this - for on the Cross, Our Lord cried "My God, My God... Why have You forsaken Me?" You do know what it feels like to feel abandoned by God.
Supplication: Lord, I will ask this one thing. Whatever my feelings, keep me in your care. For I know that you are neither surprised nor offended by the honest cries of Your children - whether shouts of joy or cries of pain. When I freely and truthfully send them both to You, You are there. I would ask that You always keep this before me.
Prayer: Father, sometimes we are so confused. One day we are soaring the heights of your glory, and yet another we sink into the depths of despair. We swing from moments of being joyfully secure in the sense of your presence and approval, and yet at others it seems that you are nowhere to be found - that we have been abandoned by You - and all our memories just might have been wishful thinking. Lord help us to always keep both memories in mind. That in the joyful times, we will remember the other so we will empathize with those around us who need a word of encouragement, and when we are in the other, that we won't be left there forever. Lord, You are with us always, and You will accomplish Your will not only in history, but in our daily experiences, too. Then with the Psalmist we will cry: 'Grant us Your help... And with God we shall triumph.' We ask these things in the name of the One who experienced it all with us. Amen.
Rich Gitschlag
Tillamook Christian Center
