Pray Anyway

    Isn’t it ironic, the person we most fear in the store today is not wearing a mask? Who knew?!


    A little shepherd boy was watching his sheep one Sunday morning. As he heard the bells ringing calling the villagers to worship, he watched them and began to think that he too would like the ability to communicate with God. “But what can I say,” he thought. He had never learned to pray. So on bended knee, he began to recite the alphabet – “A…B…C…D” and so on until he reached Z, and then repeated his “prayer” several times. A man passing by, on his way to worship, heard the boy’s voice and stopping to look through the bushes, saw the child kneeling with folded hands, closed eyes and his face lifted toward the heavens, saying, “J…K…L…M.” The man interrupted the boy by asking, “What are you doing my little friend?” Startled, the boy looked to the man and replied, “I was praying, Sir.” Surprised, the man said, “But why are you repeating the alphabet?” The boy explained, “I don’t know any prayers, Sir. But I want God to take care of me and help me care for the sheep. So, I thought if I said all I knew, He could put the letters together and spell all that I want to say and should say.” The man smiled and said, “Bless your heart young man. I think you’re right and God will do just that.” Then the man went on to worship knowing he had already heard the best sermon he was going to hear that day.

[Matthew 18: 1-6] Remember, Jesus told us to have faith like a child. “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” When we go to God in prayer, we mustn’t worry whether we know all the right things to say or not. God can put the thoughts and feelings together and send the answer we need even when we don’t know what we need. The Bible assures us that even though we don’t completely understand it, God is mindful of us and our needs. In Psalm 8, David is in awe of God and the works of his hands and in the midst of all this splendor, David examines the promise of the coming Savior and asks the question, “…what is man that you are mindful of him…” (v.4). I may not know what to say to God. I may not have my problems figured out. I may not know what to be asking of God, but thank the Lord that he knows the alphabet of my scrambled thoughts and hurts, and thank the Lord he can put the words together and answer my needs. I know down deep in my heart that in times like these, we have an anchor of hope for our prayers. God is unchangeable (Hebrews 13:8) and on oath has promised us salvation. “…so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever…” (Hebrews 6:13-20). Remember this great hymn: “In Times Like These” by Ruth Caye Jones. “In times like these, you need an anchor. In times like these you need a Savior. Be very sure…Be very sure your anchor holds, and grips the solid rock. This rock is Jesus, yes He’s the one; This rock is Jesus, the only one. Be very sure…Be very sure…Your anchor holds, and grips the solid rock.” Pray for our country’s speedy recovery from our over-zealous politicians.