the power of Sandy and the Wings of God

Save me, O God,
     for the waters have come up to my neck. [...]
Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
     or the depths swallow me up
 (Psalm 69:1,15 NIV)

The Daily Office

I don't mean the place where you may happen to work.  No, I'm talking about that ancient practice of daily prayer, in which we pause at specified times of the day to focus our attention on God.  I did a post about these prayers, often called the Divine Hours, a few years ago called Time is our Currency, in which you can read a bit about the history of this tradition.

Recently, while driving a long distance by myself, I listed to a series of conference talks on prayer put on by HTB, called Wisdom of the Ages.  (the one I refer to in this post can be found here.)  One speaker, Roy Seale, talked about his experience in the Northumbria Community and their practice of praying the daily office.

Prayer Appointed for the Week

In this dark February week, during this season of Lent, in which we acknowledge our own weakness and sin and need for our Redeemer, I found this prayer particularly meaningful.  For, like Advent, Lent is a season of great hope.  And while there may be darkness, there need not be fear when we have Christ as our light.

This prayer is from Phyllis Tickle's Divine Hours.  I invite you to pray it with me:

Most loving Father, whose will it is for us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on you who cares for us: Preserve me from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from me the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested to us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

a quote to consider

This statement from something I read today made me think.

Arrogance is the opposite of humility. It compels us to treat our limits not as unique openings through which God can reveal his goodness but as diseases to be cured. - Susan Annette Muto

I think the most obvious example of my not having this attitude is in the way that I express my prayer requests to others. Does this quotation ring true for you?

Meditation

"We have some idea, perhaps, what prayer is, but what is meditation?  Well may we ask; for meditation is a lost art today, and Christian people suffer grievously from their ignorance of the practice.  Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God.  It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God; as a means of communion with God.  Its purpose is to clear one's mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let His truth make its ful and proper impact on one's mind and heart.  [...] Its effect is ever to humble us, as we contemplate God's greatess and glory, and our own littleness and sinfulness, and to encourage and reassure us [...] as we contemplate the unsearchable riches of divine mercy dispalyed in the Lord Jesus Christ" - J.I.Packer, Knowing God

Why is it, I often wonder, that I have such trouble focusing on God, submitting my mind to him?  Perhaps it is my pride, which slips around that key phrase "by the help of God" and tries to do it on my own.  Perhaps it is simply that I have not been learning long enough and persistantly enough.  Yet I long for it - the ability to let God dominate my thoughts, to let go of all the petty thoughts and concerns in my mind, to dwell on who He is and what he does.

All to often, I think, we think about our spirituallity the wrong way.  Dallas Willard offers a good caution:

Prayer, like all of the practices into which Jesus leads by word and example, will be self-validating to all who will simpy pray as he says and not give up.  It is much harder to learn if we succumb to the temptation to engage in "heroic" effors in prayer.  This is imortant.  Heroism, generally, is totally out of place in the spritual life, until we grow to the point at which it would never be thought of as heroism anyway." (The Divine Conspiracy, p 241)

Ah, the mysterious and sometimes weary paths of our walk with God - as God, infinite in wisdom and mercy, seeks communion with us, finite and fallen humans.  Perhaps this is part of what Jesus has in mind when he commands, "Remain in me, as I also remain in you".  Oh, that we might learn this sometimes lost art of meditating, that every part of us - including our minds - might remain in Him!

Psalm 77 and a couple of thoughts

Psalm 77
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.
1 I cried out to God for help;
I cried out to God to hear me.

2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands,
and I would not be comforted.

3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.

4 You kept my eyes from closing;
I was too troubled to speak.

5 I thought about the former days,
the years of long ago;

6 I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

The Psalmist is not afraid to ask the hard questions.  He openly repeats the doubts that he had:

7 "Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favor again?

8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Has his promise failed for all time?

9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"

This marks a shift, and we begin to understand why the psalmist, writing in the past tense, was able to write this whole psalm.  The questions and uncertainty are not the whole picture.

10 Then I thought, "To this I will appeal:
the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.

11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

Now he switches from talking about "the LORD" to a personal "You".  This psalm takes him from talking about God to talking to God.  This transition was not necessarily automatic - it was the result of intentionally remembering God's constant character and works.  This is something from which I am trying to learn. 

12 I will consider all your works
and meditate on all your mighty deeds."

"I will".  This is intentional prayer.

13 Your ways, God, are holy.
What god is as great as our God?

14 You are the God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the peoples.

15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

16 The waters saw you, God,
the waters saw you and writhed;
the very depths were convulsed.

17 The clouds poured down water,
the heavens resounded with thunder;
your arrows flashed back and forth.

18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
your lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and quaked.

19 Your path led through the sea,
your way through the mighty waters,
though your footprints were not seen.

20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron. 

 Wrapped up in meditating on God's goodness, he describes in joyful detail an event which, although he did not witness it, still shapes his view of God.  Is this not how we as Christians should meditate upon all of scripture?

From your experience, do you have any techniques for remembering that you would like to share?

has praying gone out of style? (or was it every in style?)

I have a quantum exam tomorrow but I have started a new book this week so I think I will briefly quote from that. The book is called Praying and it is co-authored by Packer and Nystrom. This section, however, is a quotation from "A Call to Prayer" by John Charles Ryle (1852). Here are a few excerpts which struck me:

Have you forgotten that it is not fashionable to pray? It is one of the things that many would be rather ashamed to own....

Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer. I cannot forget this. I look at men's lives. I believe that few pray.

Brethren who pray, if I know anything of a Christian's heart, you are often sick of your own prayers... The devil has special wrath against us when he sees us on our knees...

... Whatever else you make a business of, make a business of prayer.

Tell me what a man's prayers are, and I will soon tell you the state of his soul. Prayer is the spiritual pulse... Oh, let us keep an eye continually upon our private devotions.