Finding comfort in our most difficult moments
“Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called.”
– Isaiah 48:12 (NRSV)
Help me, O God of comfort and of grace, to hear your voice. Help me to be able to come to you and seek your reassurance when the world starts to feel overwhelming. The nations of the world were in an uproar, and the people had been hauled away from the reality they wanted, and they were trying desperately to find something to believe in. Instead of turning to you, they went their own directions and did whatever seemed right in their own sight.
This is very much where we are right now as a nation. This is where we are as a people. This is where I am as an individual at this moment. There is so much to be afraid of, and the pace of our news cycle is not helping that. I am not able to make a difference in the great scheme of things, but I am able to make a difference right here and right now. Help me to be able to seek you out. Help me to be able to cling to your grace on a daily basis. Help me to be able to hear your Spirit taking me in the direction I need to be going. Help me to listen to you all of the time.
That is really the answer to the problems we are facing. We try to live life on our own. We try to deal with our fear through our own strength. It does not work. We are not adequate to the task. We are incomplete without you. Remind the people of this world that we are unable to be perfect. We are unable to fix ourselves. We have neither the vision or the strength to be able to make this world right on our own.
On the other hand, you have not left us on our own. You have not left us to our own devices. You have given us your Son so that we might be able to see what your kingdom looks like. You have shown us what you look like by giving us Jesus. Give us the strength to follow him each and every day.
Dear God,
Please give us faith in you. Please equip us to do the things that you want us to do. Please help us to become better and stronger versions of ourselves. There is so much in the world that we have allowed to pass us by because we have not allowed you to be God of our lives. We have believed the lie. We have accepted the falsehood that comes from allowing the powers and principalities to set the agenda.
Help us, dear God. Give us strength. Give us the ability to serve you. Give us the strength to trust you each and every day.
Amen.
(This reflection from my prayer journal was inspired by Talitha Arnold’s UCC Still Speaking Devotional, Listen Up, January 22, 2020)
