As I peer into the coming year, I
feel compelled to draw a circle around us – our home, our church, our city, our
state, our nation … and pray until. On this, the final day of two-thousand and
sixteen with the dawn of a brand new year upon us, can I be so bold as to urge
you, too, to do the same? Draw a circle
of your own and then pray for everything in it…and pray until.
Our Father, we come before You
now, thanking your first for our salvation – our redemption – found only in You. You are holy.
You are mighty. You are unparalleled,
unmatched, unchanging. No one is Your
equal. Nothing is beyond Your reach. You are The Creator and we, Your
created.
Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. (Is. 40:26)
Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, O servants of the Lord, you who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God! Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praises to His name for it is lovely. For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession. For I know the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps. He causes vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; who makes lightenings for the rain, who brings forth the wind from His treasuries. … Your name, O Lord, is everlasting, your remembrance, O Lord, throughout all generations. For the Lord will judge His people and will have compassion on His servants. The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, the work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, nor is there any breath at all in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them. O house of Israel, bless the Lord; O house of Aaron, bless the Lord; O house of Levi, bless the Lord; You who revere the Lord, bless the Lord. Blessed be the Lord from Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the Lord! (Ps 135:1-7; 13-21)
You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my be in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. (Ps 139:5-10)
These things we know and yet,
when violence breaks out all around us…when terrorists kill, when children are
made soldiers, when women blow themselves to smithereens in suicide vests; when Christians are systematically
beheaded and entire people groups become disenfrancised wandering refugees; when disasters and
earthquakes and floods and tornadoes and hurricanes and unrelenting snow, hail
and ice happen and when pests ravage the land; when people lie and cheat; when elected
and un-elected leaders do not lead and when spiritual leaders are heretics
instead; when helplessness, confusion and fear dominate our days… what is happening? Where are You? Where have You gone?
We are persuaded by these
seemingly huge evils…talking about our problems is our greatest addiction. And we are perhaps inclined to believe that
You are nowhere, disengaged, uninterested, outdated, unable, and maybe even
inattentive to our dread, our chaos, our sufferings, our world.
We are so ignorant of Your
ways. Have we forgotten? You are the I Am, the Alpha and Omega, Ancient
of Days, Author and Finisher of our faith, our Blessed Hope, the Chief
Cornerstone, Everlasting King, Father to the fatherless, our Sure Foundation –
You are God alone.
Forgive us when we drift from the
surety of Your holiness and bid me aid to fix my sights and regain focus.
As we look ahead to the New Year,
we place our trust in You. When You use wicked rulers and foreign nations to
deliver judgment, we trust in You.
Though nations are in uproar and kingdoms fall (Ps 46:6), we trust in
You. And like Job, "though You slay me,”
we trust in You (Job 13:15).
O Heavenly Father, look on us,
the people You have called by name (Is. 43: 1), and bring us to repentance. Father, where there is sin, expose it. Where there is unfaithfulness, idolatry, and
deceit, bring us to our knees. We cry
out to You. We feel the impending evil, coming
upon us and breaching our every encampment.
Those who are set toward our destruction live among us…evil is all
around us. O Lord of Heaven, where are You?
Is this Your purpose, Lord? Are you leading the command against us?
Is this the beginning of the
end? The Day of the Lord? To all the ends? Has our rebellion,
hatefulness, blasphemy, idolatry, finally crossed the line? Is this, O Lord, the tip of Your wrath? Your righteous judgement? HOLY are You!
“By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of
the Lord one keeps away from evil” (Pr. 16:6).
As we make a circle around ourselves,
our desire is to be made right with You, O Lord. You are righteous and holy and just. We are smothered by our sin…insulated from
our wrongdoing by our manufactured self-righteousness. In ignorance we have failed to worship You. In mindlessness, as if we are but a corpse, have
failed to rightfully thank You for the blessings You have given - as if we had
earned anything but death. In indignation,
we have turned away from Your truth and treated the gift of life and the
innocent violently. As 2016 comes to a close
we are nose-to-nose with a disaster. Our
relationships, our homes, our churches, our cities, our state, our nation – WE
ARE IN SHAMBLES. But can a man save
himself? Or a woman? A child?
We know the answer is a resounding NO.
So what then, Lord, is the remedy to our spiritual decay and moral
meltdown? Where can one find the
solution to our imploding nation? As Your
people, we acknowledge the antidote is not more legislation, nor healthcare,
nor the economy, or welfare. It isn’t immigration
or free higher education. It isn’t the
justice system or more social justice. No
Lord. We confess, the answer is not more
of us but more of You. More of Your
people seeking Your face, inundated in Your Word, and praying in Your name.
So Lord, as we’re at the end of
ourselves and the coincidental end of the year, we lift You up. We ask that our circles be renewed with a mindfulness
of Christ. That we would bless Your name
and give You honor. That we would be
made acutely aware that it is You who defends; You who comforts; You who give
and take away. That it is You who
empowers, saves, and equips. It is You, O
Lord, to whom all glory is due. Let us
be prepared to stand firm as this year wells up. That no matter what comes forth, that we rest
in the submission of your sovereignty.
Remind us that holiness is, astonishingly, within our grasp made
possible in You Lord. And bearing all these things in mind, may we be those
that prevail in prayer, keeping alert looking expectantly to You in the coming
year, being faithful to pray until…
All these things we humbly ask in
the Name that is above all names…In the name of Jesus we pray,
Amen.
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