Frustratingly Patient

Matthew 13:31-33
'He told another parable to them: “ The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and planted in his field. It’s the smallest of all seeds. But when it’s grown, it’s the largest of all vegetable plants. It becomes a tree so that the birds in the sky come and nest in its branches. ” 
He told them another parable: “ The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through all the dough. ” 
Have you ever prayed and wanted God to move in your life only to feel…nothing? God can be frustratingly patient with us.

For the people who first heard Jesus’ parables, they expected God’s kingdom to arrive with great fanfare and overwhelming power. It was going to come with a bang! Big, bombastic, sweeping change would happen. Yet, Jesus comes talking about tiny seeds and yeast and baking bread. “The kingdom has drawn near!” Jesus says to begin his ministry. It’s already here! Maybe you missed it.

Jesus knows that God’s kingdom arrives like a tiny seed or a bit of yeast in dough—barely noticeable in the beginning but destined to grow. This is reminiscent of God’s word to his people through the prophet Zechariah. When the temple was being rebuilt upon the people’s return from exile, the work was slow, and they were losing heart. God spoke, saying, “Do not despise small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin.”
Have your prayers been slow to produce fruit? God can be frustratingly patient. But, just as seeds take time to germinate and yeast takes time to leaven, so too, the work of the Holy Spirit takes time to work through our lives. It starts small, but it is destined to grow. Do not despise small beginnings. Trust that God rejoices to spend simple time in prayer with you.

In what areas of your life do you need greater patience? Where are you hoping for explosive change, but God is currently moving in small and steady ways? May this be your prayer today:

Lord, help me to trust Your slow work in me.

Do you know someone who is starting a new venture – starting a new family, a new job, a new business, or maybe just entering a new season in life? May this be your prayer today:

Lord, help _____ to trust Your slow work in them.

May what is now small grow into something great that can be a place of shelter for others.

The Most Dangerous Prayer

Psalm 139

LORD , you have examined me. 
  You know me. 
You know when I sit down and when I stand up. 
Even from far away, you comprehend my plans. 
You study my traveling and resting. 
  You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways. 
There isn’t a word on my tongue, LORD , 
  that you don’t already know completely. 
You surround me—front and back. 
  You put your hand on me. 
That kind of knowledge is too much for me; 
  it’s so high above me that I can’t reach it. 

Where could I go to get away from your spirit? 
  Where could I go to escape your presence? 
If I went up to heaven, you would be there. 
  If I went down to the grave, you would be there too! 
If I could fly on the wings of dawn, 
  stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean— 
   even there your hand would guide me; 
  even there your strong hand would hold me tight! 
If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me; 
  the light will become night around me,” 
even then the darkness isn’t too dark for you! 
Nighttime would shine bright as day, 
because darkness is the same as light to you! 

You are the one who created my innermost parts; 
  you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb. 
I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. 
  Your works are wonderful—I know that very well. 
My bones weren’t hidden from you 
  when I was being put together in a secret place, 
   when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth. 
Your eyes saw my embryo, 
   and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me, 
  before any one of them had yet happened. 

God, your plans are incomprehensible to me! 
   Their total number is countless! 
If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand! 
   If I came to the very end—I’d still be with you. 

If only, God, you would kill the wicked! 
  If only murderers would get away from me— 
 the people who talk about you, but only for wicked schemes; 
   the people who are your enemies, 
  who use your name as if it were of no significance. 
   Don’t I hate everyone who hates you? 
  Don’t I despise those who attack you? 
Yes, I hate them—through and through! 
  They’ve become my enemies too. 

Search me, God! Know my heart! 
  Put me to the test! Know my anxious thoughts! 
Look to see if there is any idolatrous way in me, 
  then lead me on the eternal path!'

The Psalms are the prayer and songbook of scripture. As the Israelites would pilgrimage to Jerusalem for high holy days, the psalms of ascent would be on their lips. They would sing and pray psalms of lament and examination when nations pressed in around them. Today, the Psalms provide us a lens through which to honestly pray to God through the best and worst of life.

Psalm 139 is a centering, sobering Psalm. It contains, I believe, the most dangerous prayer we could pray. “Search me and know me!” We tend to pray prayers of protection, guidance, and comfort when days are difficult. We want God to be our shield and our sword. The Psalmist gives us a glimpse of these types of prayers in verses 19-22. We could easily make a list of people that fit the descriptions laid out here: the wicked, the bloodthirsty, enemies of God, and those who use God’s name for selfish gain. It’s easy to pray a prayer against other people. If we stop there, we miss the most dangerous (and often times the most transformative) prayer we could pray.

Praying against other people’s sins is one thing; have you ever prayed to feel the weight of your own sin? Pain is often ground zero for transformation, but if we constantly run from the reality of our sin and refuse to acknowledge its presence, we will remain unchanged. Confronting the sin of the world begins with confronting the sin in us.

“Lord, help me to feel the weight of my sin. Search me and know me. Help me to accept the freedom I have in you to confess and repent of anything in me that is not of you. Lead me in your good and perfect way.”

Wrestling with the Evil in the World

Genesis 18:16-21
The men got up from there and went over to look down on Sodom. Abraham was walking along with them to send them off when the LORD said, “Will I keep from Abraham what I’m about to do? Abraham will certainly become a great populous nation, and all the earth’s nations will be blessed because of him. I have formed a relationship with him so that he will instruct his children and his household after him. And they will keep to the LORD ’s path, being moral and just so that the LORD can do for Abraham everything he said he would.” Then the LORD said, “The cries of injustice from Sodom and Gomorrah are countless, and their sin is very serious! I will go down now to examine the cries of injustice that have reached me. Have they really done all this? If not, I want to know.”

Have you ever looked at the world and thought, “Where is God in all of this?” We can be bombarded with message after message of what is wrong in the world constantly if we aren’t careful. Stories of war, corruption, poverty, despair, and violence saturate the news and (most likely) your social media feeds. When the world becomes overwhelming, we instinctively ask, “Where are you, God?!?”

Today’s scripture gives us a short glimpse of God's conversation with himself before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God has already called Abraham to be the father of God’s people, and God’s messengers, at this point in the story, are enjoying Abramham’s hospitality. But, attention is being turned toward the injustice of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. God contemplates whether or not Abraham should witness what is about to happen. Should Abraham be exposed to the injustice in the world and its resulting pain, or should he be sheltered?

God chooses not to shelter Abraham but to let him witness the effects of sin and injustice so that he may pass on what he sees from generation to generation so that “they will keep to the LORD’s path, being moral and just so that the LORD can do for Abraham everything he said he would.” Abraham and his descendants have been given a calling that extends beyond their comfort. Their calling is to be a blessing to the entire world. As the church, we are recipients of this calling and covenant.

To answer our question, “Where is God in the world's pain?” God shows us the effects of injustice and sin so that we might live differently from the world. The effects of sin and injustice are where people need the most blessing. They are the places where God sends his people to bear witness to the good news of Jesus. It pushes us beyond our comfort and right into the open arms of God.

Have you been troubled by world events or the pain someone you know is experiencing? Use that as a launching point for your prayer today. Practice surrendering what is out of your control to God so that you can grab hold of what is in your power to do.

God's Promises Are True

Psalm 145:13-21
'Your kingdom is a kingship that lasts forever; your rule endures for all generations. The LORD is trustworthy in all that he says, faithful in all that he does. 
The LORD supports all who fall down, straightens up all who are bent low. 
All eyes look to you, hoping, and you give them their food right on time, opening your hand and satisfying the desire of every living thing. 
The LORD is righteous in all his ways, faithful in all his deeds. 
The LORD is close to everyone who calls out to him, to all who call out to him sincerely. 
God shows favor to those who honor him, listening to their cries for help and saving them. 
The LORD protects all who love him, but he destroys every wicked person. 
My mouth will proclaim the LORD ’s praise, and every living thing will bless God’s holy name forever and always.'

In the ebb and flow of life, we often find ourselves searching for solid ground. As believers, one of the most powerful tools we have for spiritual formation is prayer—specifically, praying through God's promises found in Scripture. This practice deepens our relationship with God and strengthens our faith as we align our hearts with His truth.

The Psalms have been a prayer book for God’s people for thousands of years. They contain prayers for anything we face, provide consolation, and remind us of God’s promises: “The LORD is trustworthy in all that he says, faithful in all that he does.” The only way we learn to believe this is by trusting it. After all, this is the essence of faith: trust, living as if what God says and promises is true.

What are you facing today? What promise from God do you need to cling to and pray through? Today, choose faith. Live as if that promise is true.

Learning to Listen

Luke 10:38-42
'While Jesus and his disciples were traveling, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his message. By contrast, Martha was preoccupied with getting everything ready for their meal. So Martha came to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to prepare the table all by myself? Tell her to help me.” The Lord answered, “ Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her. ”

How do we hear God’s voice? In Luke’s gospel, we see Jesus' short encounter with Mary and Martha. Jesus contrasts Martha’s frantic activity with Mary’s seeming quiet contemplation. Martha moves about, fueled by worry and distraction, while Mary sits quietly at Jesus’ feet. This is the primary posture of a follower of Jesus: sitting at his feet and listening.

Hearing God’s voice is rooted in our ability to quite the other voices that distract and worry us. God doesn’t speak in the way we speak; yet God speaks. Ultimately, we hear God through the words of Jesus, then scripture, circumstances, desire, spiritual friends, dreams, teachers, prophets, the “still small voice,” and more. Learning to tune into the voice of God requires us to practice listening for that voice. Here’s a hint: the voice will sound like Jesus’ voice. As Archbishop Michael Ramsey once put it, "God is Christlike, and in Him is no un-Christlikeness at all.”

Learning to sort through the various “voices” that fight for our attention and focusing on God’s voice is a key task of discipleship. Learning to hear is step one. Learning to obey is the ultimate task. Our desire, then, becomes learning to listen to God with a heart of loving surrender and trust.

What has worried you, caused you anxiety, or distracted you recently? How might you hear and respond to Jesus’ invitation to sit and listen today?