As we have learned over the past couple of weeks, the antidote to the worries of this life is prayer. Prayer seems to be the answer to all things and God, in His wisdom, teaches us how to pray:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us today our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
– Luke 11:1-4 & Matthew 6:9-13
This is a model prayer that Jesus uses us to teach us to pray. For today’s devotion I only want to focus on only one part of the prayer: “Our Father in heaven”.
We often just glance through this part, but this is such a loaded statement! When we pray to our Father in HEAVEN, we are acknowledging and confessing that we need help! We need help from a source that is NOT on earth, but from a source that is outside of our own realm.
We often look at solutions that are before us. We look at how God will help us in our dire needs and try to figure out how the Lord will break through. But God is not limited to the realities of here on earth, because God is IN HEAVEN. He is not bound to the rules that the earth has. He is above it and therefore can do all things.
I am reminded of the Israelites as they left Egypt and wandered the desert. The desert is hot, dry, and arid. The people of Israel are wandering a land where there is little to no fresh water available. They were thirsty and they complained. As Moses looked all around him, he found no streams to feed the people. As Moses looked to the skies, all he could see was clear skies and no rain in sight. How will the Lord provide water to the Israelites in the desert? There is no water source available or nearby, and Moses could see no answer to his prayer for water for the people of Israel.
But then the Lord spoke, and He said “Rock”.
The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”
The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
– Exodus 17:1-2, 5-6
Moses could not see the solution because God who is IN HEAVEN is not limited to what we see or know. God has solutions that we cannot even fathom.
In this life there are many worries and challenges. You may not be able to see the answer or have any idea how God will come through – but the good news is, you don’t need to know. Pray to the one who is IN HEAVEN. He has the answers that we cannot see and do not know.