Turning Toward God through Prayer and Trust

Rev. Dr. Frank Reeder,

Pastor to Pastor

“O God, you are my God; I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.” (Psalm 63:1-4)

Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. (Augustus M. Toplady, Rock of Ages)

Such comfort many of us have! Flick a switch, and there is light. Push a button, and we have the Winter Olympics from Europe beamed into our living room with all its color and grandeur. Pull an entrée from the freezer, pop it in the oven, and a delectably delicious dinner is served in thirty minutes. We usually pause to give thanks to the Sustainer of Life, or maybe not. God knows I am grateful.

On Sunday night, while we slept, a blizzard swept ashore in our seaside town. When we awoke, none of what I described was possible except to give thanks. The electricity was out. The oven wasn’t working. The TV screen was dark. The house was getting chilly as the outside temperature hovered around freezing, and snow continued to fall. The car was snowed in, and digging it out would have taken hours. Thank God, literally, thank God for the gas range in our kitchen. We had running water and five burners to keep our house warm at 55 degrees. Blankets, candles, cell service, and prevailing prayer.

O God, you are my God; I seek you. My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a [cold] and [snowy] land where there is [is scarce heat]. I had planned to approach this devotion from a different angle. A dear friend of mine has lost her vision because of an eye disease, and I am trusting God with her future even as we walk through this difficult season. 

But today God has our attention in another way. This, perhaps, is the fast God will use in this Lenten journey—a turning toward Him in the midst of what is missing. I invite you to turn toward God with us, bringing before Him whatever feels absent or broken in your own life. God knows how all of this will unfold, even as I dream of warmer days when the heater works, the lights shine again, and my friend’s vision is restored. “Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Thanks be to God. Where have we relied on ourselves instead of God?

Prayer:

Faithful God, we confess how often we rely on ourselves instead of on you. 

When life feels secure, we trust our own strength; 

When it feels uncertain, we try to control what we cannot. 

Forgive us.

Turn our hearts back to you. 

In what is missing, in what is broken, teach us to seek you and to trust you. 

Grow in us a faith that rests not in what we see, but in who you are. 

Amen.