March 27
Deut 7:1-8:20 | PS 69:1-18 | Prov 12:1 | Luke 7:36-8:3
Read Psalm 69:1-3, "Save me, O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck. Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire; I can't find a foothold. I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me. I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched. My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me." This is the king of Israel. From an earthly standpoint he had much. Yet, one can't miss the vulnerability he has before God, his utter desperation for a response. This is relationship. This is why David was a called " a man after God's own heart". As an elder in my church, one who has covered the prayer room for years, I rarely hear this type of prayer. Most prayer is both safe and respectable. Most will ask for prayer for health issues, for loved ones (again primarily health issues), for finances, for direction in life. This not meant to be critical, but if one is honest a large majority of prayer is spent on our earthly tents, rather than spiritual matters. It is not that one needs to air out all of their dirty laundry to one another, but if we truly see ourselves the sinners that we are, if we truly see ourselves rightly before our perfect Savior and how fall we all fall from the mark, at least in private, we had better be vulnerable and desperate. This is prayer, not some perfunctory, safe form of communication with spiritual overtones. Perhaps, we don't see much change because we are not seeking much change.
Jesus is in the home of a Pharisee, named Simon, when He is approached by a prostitute who desperately weeps over Jesus, doesn't even look at another as she desperately pours out everything she has onto Him. Jesus then proceeds to give an illustration in Luke 7:41-43, "Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said." We read the conclusion in 7:47-48, “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”" Sadly, many of us deem ourselves higher than this prostitute. We rank others based on a whole host of earthly criteria, all the while failing to see that when we stand before the Lord, we are all so small, so pathetic, on our own merit not even having the ability to raise our eyes towards Him. We need to have the desperation and vulnerability of this prostitute.
Moses reminded the next generation as they were about to enter the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 7:7, “The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!" There was nothing special about them from an earthly standpoint, their position rested completely on their relationship with the Lord. Moses proceeded to give them a warning as they move from desperation to prosperity, when the fighting has died down, when the food is plenty, in 8:10-11, "When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. “But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today." Most of us reading this live in a relatively prosperous nation and themselves lack for little in terms of necessities. The Prostitute was desperate. King David was desperate. The Israelites when humbled, not prosperous, were desperate. We had better see ourselves desperate before the Lord when we come before Him. Prayer is not something we simply do as people of faith. Along with our time in His Word, prayer is our time to communicate with our God. May we see Him as best as our feeble minds can fathom, high and lifted up, and at the same time may we see ourselves as the desperate sinners that we are, who would literally be nothing if it were not for the grace and mercy so lovingly poured out upon us, not because we have earned or deserved it, but simply because He loves us and desires to do this for us.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: