Bible time--moving God's heart

Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me. Isaiah 38:14

I can always tell when I am out of step with God. My prayers become quick and mechanical. I pray because I should, because it is a habit, but my heart and my mind are on other things.

It’s like any human relationship. Two people can live in the same house and barely acknowledge each other until something happens to wake them up to their need for one another.

When any great tragedy, such as a hurricane or tornado, hits a community, something wonderful happens. Neighbors who previously didn’t know each other’s names are seen embracing on national TV. In the time of helplessness they realized they couldn’t handle life without by themselves.

Sometimes it takes a tragedy or a change in life before we will begin to bare our hearts to God. We become deceived into thinking that He expects us to “get a grip” on things and not bother Him too much, or maybe that He is mad at us for not doing so well under duress. Perhaps we are afraid that if we look our difficulty straight in the face and acknowledge it for what it really is, our hearts will fail for fear. So we stifle what is actually going on in our hearts and put on a “good face”, even when we pray.

I believe that God stands by and waits. He waits until we get just desperate enough not to care anymore about our religious perceptions of who He is and until our emotions break forth like water from a dam. Finally, all that we had been thinking and feeling is laid out before Him.

This is a wonderful thing. This is a pattern in scripture. When people are oppressed, they cry out to God. God hears and is stirred with compassion. He begins to deliver and defend them, as they begin to exercise the promise through overcoming faith. In the end, He leads them to a place of rest and peace.

Hezekiah’s prayer in Isaiah 38 is one of the best examples of this. He was struck with a terminal illness and was consumed with pain and suffering.

And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken; Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

There have been many junctures like this one in my life. I may have been feeling confident in my own abilities, or distracted enough to deny my own vulnerability so that I am not opening up to God, not letting Him too far into my deepest thoughts, desires, etc. It is through my own inability to cope that I am forced to divulge the secret places of my heart.

But I love these times! The true desire of my heart is not ease and comfort; it is Him. He is the “heaven” my soul longs for. When His heart is stirred with compassion for me, I feel as though I am so close that I am resting on his chest, with His arms wrapped around me.

And it blesses Him when we acknowledge that He is not just the only way out, but the best! Just as He did with Hezekiah, so He reaches out to deliver, defend, and place us into safety.

Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. Psalm 25:15

Father, thank You for “watches” in the night. Thank You for giving me the prerogative and the ability to call on You with my whole heart. You are the best Listener, the best Counselor. You not only listen, You take action. Help me to mix Your promises with faith as I watch You begin to move on my behalf. I am so sorry for the times I forget and get busy doing it all myself. Keep me like the psalmist, with my eyes ever toward You, resting with Your arms of love surrounding me. I pray that no person or thing ever interrupts our sweet fellowship together.

In Jesus’ sweet name,

Amen