Saturday Morning Musings, 05/31/08, by JAH

There's an old Christian saying that may date back to the ancient Jews. It says, "When all else fails, pray!" That's good advice, but I feel like it is a last ditch stand when you are in dire trouble. Better advice is pray often.

Prayer should be the response of a child who loves his Father. I think that is the reason David sought the Lord in the morning as well as in times of great need. I believe when Paul said, "I die daily," it was in his morning prayer time. It's logical to put God first before we begin a day of temptation to sin by committing our lives anew to Him.

When I first became a Christian, prayer was one of the hardest things for me to do. I wrote a little note on the front page of my new reference Bible, "Don't forget to pray at least three times a day." That has a nice little ring to it, doesn't it? I remembered that Jesus told us to ask our Father for our daily bread, and that reminded me to talk with God for a moment before eating my meals. I found my days began to go better. I did that in 1946 on board the USS Iowa, and sometimes other sailors thought I was having some kind of seizure because sat for a few moments with bowed head. Some of those began to study the Bible with me after our duty times.

When I began serving as pastor in 1947, I was completely unprepared to serve as a pastor. It was real On The Job Training for me. I discovered three times of prayer with another at bedtime was not nearly enough! I was constantly bombarded with questions for which I had no answers! The only wisdom I could claim was to keep my mouth shut a lot more than I ever had in the past! I began to read the Scripture in prayer searching for the message God had for His people. That required my turning to the Lord in prayer consistently particularly when I opened His Word.

My wisdom increased as I realized God's Sprit would work with me IF I let Him have the leadership in my life. I would turn my life over to Him, but it would not be long until I decided to do something totally contrary to God's will. When I discovered I was no longer in the Lord's will, sorrow resulted, and I almost frantically prayed to be restored. "I die daily" began to mean much more to me. Part of my increased wisdom was the discovery that I not only did not have answers for the hard questions, but that there was no pat answers to them anyway. I couldn't get by with quoting some worldly proverb, or some well-known preacher. I despaired of ever measuring up to the standard I believed should be the measure of a minister. That's when the Spirit would take charge again, and my joy would return.
I remembered one of my elder friends asking me if I had read the book, "Humility and how I obtained it" by I. M. Smart. I became content with the knowledge I did not need to achieve the heights, just achieve God's will for my life whether it was great or plain and simple. Paul was right when he wrote I Corinthians 1:26-31, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: 'Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.'"

Now, I may forget to pray at a meal sometimes, but all during the day, and sometimes when I wake up at night, I speak with the Lord. When someone asks me a question about the Lord, or the Bible, or what to do next, I defer to the Lord for the answer before I speak. If He doesn't give it to me, then I really have nothing to say, except, "I'll continue to pray about this. Maybe the Lord will give me the answer. If He does, I'll share it with you."