Common

Recently, the kids and I had huddled into a sort of hug prayer, with a child on each side of me. As I was praying, I was so distracted by their fidgeting with one another. And this wasn’t the first time my prayers had been interrupted by their playing. I remember my own childhood. My parents would have never allowed such frivolity and playfulness. They taught us to fear and respect God in prayer.

But we live in a different time. God is our friend, not some big, far-off being. We want our kids to like God and church and all things spiritual. But in my attempts to make Him approachable, have I made Him ordinary? Have I made God too commonplace?

The idea of the fear of God has somehow gone out of mode. It’s true, I do want my kids to enjoy church and feel like God is their Father. I’ve taught them that prayer is just “talking to God.” But I’m afraid in doing so, I’ve taken away some of the holiness, the sacredness of prayer.

God is nothing to trifle with. He is holy and deserves not only our respect, but our fear. When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, He said, “‘Do not come any closer’ … ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground'” (Exodus 3:5 NLT). Though God had called Moses to Him, He did not allow him to approach His presence casually.

When Jesus was crucified, the veil of the Temple was torn, permanently removing the separation between us and God (Mark 15:38). But that doesn’t mean our approach to Him should be anything less than reverential.

I’m not saying we need to pray formal, liturgical prayers all the time. But neither should we be distracted or irreverent. Prayer is talking to God. But we must remember that He is the Creator of Heaven and Earth, not our buddy with whom we are shooting the breeze.

So I’m doing quite a bit of backtracking and retraining with my kids. We are learning to “bow our heads and close our eyes,”–old school praying. We are learning that prayer is not the time to play and fidget. And most importantly, we are learning that God is to be honored, respected and feared.

Higher Ground

You know the old saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees”? It’s a phrase that is often used to describe a myopic point of view. Sometimes, we are too close to a situation to be able to see clearly.

In a recent battle with anxiety, which makes everything feel too close and overwhelming, I was reminded of Psalm 61:2, “From the end of the earth I will cry to you, when my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (NKJV). I’ve heard this verse many times. And it’s always given me comfort. But it wasn’t until recently that I truly understood it.

In a spiritual battle, we need to gain perspective. We need to see things from God’s point of view. From our vantage, we may not be able to see a way forward. We may only see the “trees of the forest.” That’s a common ploy of our enemy. He likes to bombard us with things that distract us from seeing the bigger picture of what God is doing. His tactics are designed to cause us to lose focus on God’s promises. But if we just let God lead us to “the rock that is higher” than we are–Jesus–we will gain a whole new outlook.

Photo by David Bartus on Pexels.com

I’m reminded of the Old Testament story of Elisha’s servant. “When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?” (2 Kings 6:15 ESV). Seeing with his natural eyes, Elisha’s servant couldn’t see any way of escape. But Elisha had a different view of the situation: “He said, ‘Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.’ So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:16-17).

We must always remember, “… If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31b ESV). When we are facing a battle and it seems like the enemy will overwhelm us, let’s ask God to lead us to higher ground, to get a clearer viewpoint. Then we can see that what looked impossible for us, is possible with God (Matthew 19:26). “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV).