Prayer
Prayer promises that God is listening– to you, to me, to us. How incredible is that? And God isn’t just listening, he’s answering and he’s acting. One of my earliest moments of really trusting God was born out of studying Exodus 2. Before the amazing moment of people walking through the Red Sea as God delivered his people from slavery came this heartbreakingly long period of time of prayer.
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Exodus 2:23
Those many days – 400 years!-- yeah, you could call that “many.” I think of my ancestors moving to the US as so long ago. But even the stories of them coming over don’t go back 400 years. All those years of praying, “groaning” says the Scripture, crying out for help. Was it worth it? Did it matter to Moses’ life that his great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents spent time “crying out for help” to God?
Many of the answers to those questions are unknowable, caught up in the mystery of believing in a God who is bigger than us, who made us, who loves us. (If you are seeking conversation around those kinds of things, come join us at Alpha or by a fireside or hang out with us.)
But there’s at least one answer that we do know – those groans and cries impacted God.
Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel– and God knew. Exodus 2:23-25
God hears. God remembers. God sees his people for generations. And God “knew”-- a more strange word, perhaps, but important for those of us who are praying or trying to pray or have been crying out for generations for change. This is a word of intimacy, of love. It’s the same word for a husband knowing his wife. He moves to be with her, united.
That’s what God does in answer to the cries of his people. He knew his people. He came to be with them. The next verse starts with “Now Moses.” Moses will be raised up to lead God’s people out of Egypt. And in Moses we see a glimpse of the One whom God will send to save us – to save us from sin and isolation and death and to bring us back into relationship with God.
We are a people of prayer.
We pray because we believe God is listening. He hears us. He remembers his covenant. He sees us. He knows.
We pray because we believe Jesus has already come to save the world. That salvation from sin and isolation and death is possible in this life, even as salvation is sure for the life to come.
We pray because God still sends people in response to the needs of the world and of our own neighborhood.
We pray because we believe that our prayers impact the generations to come.
Will you join us to pray? We are beginning this school year with prayer (and school supplies and scheduling, oh my). You have four nights of invitations – attend one or all or if you need to, join us in prayer wherever you find yourself.
Pray at 703 Kitsap St. from 7-8pm:
Sunday, August 24th Waiting in Prayer
Monday, August 25th Equipping for Prayer
Tuesday, August 26th Prayer for Schools
Wednesday, August 27th Prayer for Healing
We will wait on the Lord together and expect to see his salvation. God has been known to heal immediately, and I trust he is also at work in the generations to come.
Pastor Megan
