This isn't about politics. It's about something way more important than politics. But it's good enough to read on.
Do you ever find yourself so busy that you can’t keep track of everything on your schedule? Have you ever said to yourself or to someone around you, “I just don’t have time to think about that right now!”?
Sometimes we get so involved and over-committed that we forget things. Forgetting to pick up your shirts from the cleaners isn’t that big a deal. Forgetting your spouse’s birthday would be a big deal. Now, so far I haven't forgotten my wife’s birthday. It’s inconceivable to me. In fact, I know that I can't afford to forget Valentine’s Day, either. That's the day we got married. I've been known to say that if I ever forget Valentine's Day, well, I might not wake up alive the next morning. Ever heard the phrase “Gone But Not Forgotten”? It’s not just for tombstones.
Just today, I looked at my Blackberry and considered everything in my schedule. Family stuff, work stuff, church stuff, time with friends, doctor appointment, church meetings, and on and on it goes.
I wondered out loud, “How does God do it? How does He keep track of everything in the universe?” I just have my tiny postage stamp corner of the world to take care of. God rides herd on the whole planet. Not to mention 6 billion busy people just like me.”
Obviously, God is God and because He is the Ultimate Everything He doesn’t need a Blackberry to organize His week. God’s omniscience and omnipresence are too big for me to get my brain around. Just for a minute, let’s break it down to something less mind blowing.
Are you wearing a watch today? If you are, chances are it has a quartz crystal inside. Were we able to see it, we would find that the quartz crystal in our watch vibrates at a speed of approximately 8 billion times per second. That’s 8 billion with a capital “beyond our absolutely”, as a dear friend of mine would say.
There are approximately 6 billion people on planet earth. If God were only able to think as fast as the quartz crystal in your watch, He would be able to think about you and every other person on earth at the same time, every second of every minute of every hour of every day.
With time to spare.
Psalm 121 says that our God “does not sleep nor does He slumber”. He is literally thinking about you every second of every minute of every day. This week while you’re using your Timex and your Blackberry or Palm Pilot to keep track of your schedule, remember that God is thinking about you every second of every minute. Everyday. Thoughts of love, grace, encouragement, forgiveness, kindness, hope and peace. God cares about the details of your life.
You might forget something this week. It happens. For your sake I hope it’s the shirts at the cleaners and not a birthday. Whatever you might forget, no worries. God will never forget about you.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
God, Prayer, and YOU
Recently I read a compilation of actual prayers offered up to God by children. They were funny and refreshingly candid. Like Angela, age 8, who said, “Dear God, could you give my brother some brains? So far he doesn’t have any.” Or “Dear God, thanks for the nice day today. You even fooled the TV weather man.”
One entry on the list captured perhaps the most foundational truth about prayer. Diane, age 8, offered up this communication to God…
“Dear God; I am saying my prayers for me and my brother, Billy, because Billy is six months old and he can’t do anything but sleep and wet his diapers.”
Diane was praying on behalf of her baby brother because he was helpless to do anything on his own.
Someone has wisely noted that, “Prayer is the language of totally helpless creatures.” This is a foundational truth about prayer. In the middle of our self-reliant, self-help, independent, pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, make our own way in the world attitudes, the fact remains that we are, in the things that matter most, totally helpless creatures. Even that which we obtain through our responsible work ethic and effort come directly from the hand of God.
When we pray, be it a prayer of thanks or praise or confession or grief or petition or fear or joy or confusion, we are acknowledging that we are indeed helpless creatures. We are created beings and we desperately need our Creator. We need God. To be sure, this is true.
But what if we turn the question around? Does God need us?
In a word...no.
God doesn’t need anything or anyone. God is self-sufficient. Self-reliant. Self-fulfilling. God is the only One who could stand on stage, accept any award and say with complete integrity, “I’d like to thank no one because it’s all about Me.” God is God. And God is all God needs.
If God is everything in Himself, then how does prayer fit into that? Logically speaking, it doesn’t. When we think seriously about prayer and what’s in it for God, from our human perspective it doesn’t make sense. Our prayers don’t offer God anything that He needs.
God needs nothing from us. God doesn’t need our money. He owns, as the Psalmist put it, “the cattle on a thousand hills.” Elsewhere, the Bible says, “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” God owns everything so He lacks nothing. What do you buy for the God Who has everything? He owns it all.
God possesses all knowledge so there’s no college course you can sign Him up for that would help His resume look better.
God is perfectly content in relationship with Himself so there’s no names you can drop and no one you can introduce Him to that would help Him expand His network.
God is all powerful. He tells the ocean waves “this far and no farther” and He hung the stars in the sky and calls them all by name. And, as the prophet Isaiah eloquently put it, “the nations are but a drop in the bucket to Him and He weighs the islands like fine dust”. So there’s no political office or military position you can offer that would increase His influence or power.
God is immutable, He never changes. So there’s no self-help book you can suggest to Him that would help bring consistency to His life.
God is perfectly balanced in His perfections of love and justice, mercy and wrath, so there’s so anger management course you can enroll Him in that would improve His judgment.
Simply put, God doesn’t need us. Were that the sum total of truth in the Bible, we’d be hopeless indeed. But there is a wonderful twist to the truth that God doesn’t need us. A twist that makes no sense at all and is at the same time a most hilarious surprise.
God doesn’t need us.
God wants us.
It’s a lot to get our head around. The fact that God wants us. It’s true. Prayer from God’s perspective is all about relationship. It can’t be anything else. It’s the only explanation that makes any sense. Why else would a perfect God want to involve Himself with imperfect people like us? We don’t have anything to offer. The only possible reason God has for involving Himself with us is because He wants to.
The perfect God of the Universe wants and desires relationship with us. We are His creation, created in His image. When we better understand our worth to Him, we’ll better understand why He values our prayers.
It’s all about relationship.
One entry on the list captured perhaps the most foundational truth about prayer. Diane, age 8, offered up this communication to God…
“Dear God; I am saying my prayers for me and my brother, Billy, because Billy is six months old and he can’t do anything but sleep and wet his diapers.”
Diane was praying on behalf of her baby brother because he was helpless to do anything on his own.
Someone has wisely noted that, “Prayer is the language of totally helpless creatures.” This is a foundational truth about prayer. In the middle of our self-reliant, self-help, independent, pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, make our own way in the world attitudes, the fact remains that we are, in the things that matter most, totally helpless creatures. Even that which we obtain through our responsible work ethic and effort come directly from the hand of God.
When we pray, be it a prayer of thanks or praise or confession or grief or petition or fear or joy or confusion, we are acknowledging that we are indeed helpless creatures. We are created beings and we desperately need our Creator. We need God. To be sure, this is true.
But what if we turn the question around? Does God need us?
In a word...no.
God doesn’t need anything or anyone. God is self-sufficient. Self-reliant. Self-fulfilling. God is the only One who could stand on stage, accept any award and say with complete integrity, “I’d like to thank no one because it’s all about Me.” God is God. And God is all God needs.
If God is everything in Himself, then how does prayer fit into that? Logically speaking, it doesn’t. When we think seriously about prayer and what’s in it for God, from our human perspective it doesn’t make sense. Our prayers don’t offer God anything that He needs.
God needs nothing from us. God doesn’t need our money. He owns, as the Psalmist put it, “the cattle on a thousand hills.” Elsewhere, the Bible says, “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” God owns everything so He lacks nothing. What do you buy for the God Who has everything? He owns it all.
God possesses all knowledge so there’s no college course you can sign Him up for that would help His resume look better.
God is perfectly content in relationship with Himself so there’s no names you can drop and no one you can introduce Him to that would help Him expand His network.
God is all powerful. He tells the ocean waves “this far and no farther” and He hung the stars in the sky and calls them all by name. And, as the prophet Isaiah eloquently put it, “the nations are but a drop in the bucket to Him and He weighs the islands like fine dust”. So there’s no political office or military position you can offer that would increase His influence or power.
God is immutable, He never changes. So there’s no self-help book you can suggest to Him that would help bring consistency to His life.
God is perfectly balanced in His perfections of love and justice, mercy and wrath, so there’s so anger management course you can enroll Him in that would improve His judgment.
Simply put, God doesn’t need us. Were that the sum total of truth in the Bible, we’d be hopeless indeed. But there is a wonderful twist to the truth that God doesn’t need us. A twist that makes no sense at all and is at the same time a most hilarious surprise.
God doesn’t need us.
God wants us.
It’s a lot to get our head around. The fact that God wants us. It’s true. Prayer from God’s perspective is all about relationship. It can’t be anything else. It’s the only explanation that makes any sense. Why else would a perfect God want to involve Himself with imperfect people like us? We don’t have anything to offer. The only possible reason God has for involving Himself with us is because He wants to.
The perfect God of the Universe wants and desires relationship with us. We are His creation, created in His image. When we better understand our worth to Him, we’ll better understand why He values our prayers.
It’s all about relationship.
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