"And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forgotten those who seek you." Psalm 9 : 10
I heard a sermon once on all the names of God, each one reflecting an aspect of His personality. Although I found it interesting at the time, I have to confess I don't remember all His names. For me, to know beyond any shadow of a doubt that He is God is all I need. When I pray I don't stop to analyze which part of God I want to hear my prayers.......I want all of Him to hear and respond!
Which reminds me of a study I tried to participate in many, many years ago.....How to Pray. Before beginning the study I had no idea there were RULES about praying! I was dumbfounded...and a bit concerned. I had been praying for years and was finding out I had been doing it all wrong! Unfortunately, the "rules" I was being taught did not make my prayers more effective nor did it make me a more efficient pray-er. Instead it turned my prayer time into a trainwreck of trying to decide which part of God needed to hear which prayer....and which of His names I needed to use to insure that a particular prayer went to the right part of God..........after a few dismal attempts I quit praying...at all...for a very long time.
Thankfully, I forgot all those "rules" and realized that I knew the name of God I needed to use when I needed to talk to Him. Because that is what my prayer time is like....talking to my very best friend. I'm not always on my knees when I pray. Sometimes I am pacing around my apartment talking to the ceiling and gesturing wildly (we Italians do so like to talk with our hands!)....sometimes I'm sitting on the porch enjoying a beautiful sunrise and telling God what an awesome job He did when He made it.........and sometimes, especially lately, I have literally been on my face before Him crying out in my desire to understand why things had to happen a particular way...pleading with Him to make feelings go away.................and do you know what I call Him then? Father.
I call Him Father...and like a good Father I can almost hear Him saying,"Hush now...it's going to be fine....I know you don't see it but I promise you will one day....I'm going take care of you so don't fret......go ahead and cry because sometimes that's all you need is a good cry....." and you know what? He's right.....every single time.
There is so much comfort in the fact I don't have to know all His Names......when I seek Him, He knows which part of Him I need and that is Who responds! All I have to do is seek Him....call out and He hears me......and if I can be patient, He will take care of everything.....perfectly!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I, too, have often wondered about the "right" way to pray. I don't like to pray in public because I fear that I'm not doing it "correctly". What I'm coming to realize, though, is that God doesn't really care HOW I pray, he just wants to hear from me! And the words don't matter so much, as long as they come from my heart. Good blog again, Nina.
Post a Comment