Mistaken Prayer

"Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord"  Psalm 107:43.

I've often thought there are many parts, particularly in the Old Testament, where God is a very severe God, a wrathful God that sometimes takes a long while to relent if He does at all. And can we believe the Bible teachers that say He's a God of mercy who disciplines those He loves? Psalm 107 beautifully answers all those questions and provides deeper insight into the human condition.

Psalm 107 paints this tragic portrait of humanity and actually the very opposite idea of how severe we often think God. It points to God's extreme goodness and mercy and shows humanity to blame for all chastisement and correction. It's tragic to me because the human condition is so poignantly independent, and that to our demise.  This whole chapter is about God's people, His chosen people, wandering off in pursuit of lesser things that lead to darkness and emptiness. And four times it says "Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses" (vs. 6,13,19,28). I look at the Israelites and I think "When will they learn?" God verbally talks to them, how hard could it be to just do what He says? But it must have been infinitely hard, and the more I live life the more I understand their humanity. God doesn't speak audibly to me, not that I doubt His ability, but yet He's provided me with these guides, the Bible and the Holy Spirit, that likely have greater ability to pull me in the right direction than even the Israelites knew in Psalm 107's reflection of events.

But the point I want to make here is the deep sadness I feel in relation to their plight. They call out to God AFTER they've dug themselves into a hole so deep they needed the supernatural to rescue them. It's this continual loop of giving thanks to God for His goodness and praising His name, then slinking downwards rather quickly to set their hearts on lesser things. Then getting too easily caught it darkness and death and needing to be rescued to THEN call out to God. But He rescues anyway. He rescues knowing they'll be back in this position in no time at all. He rescues because He is God and He is good and He is abundantly merciful. He's not accepting of our human condition but He's our Creator and He's chosen to love us and rescue us from ourselves.

I find it intriguing that we often don't learn from experience to experience. We too quickly cast off the trying times in our lives because we don't want to remember the painful memories of oppression and sadness. But really, if we allowed those things to remain as a gentle reminder of His goodness to bring us out, not remain as a crippling to our souls, then we might, just might learn and rely on Him in the good and the bad so that maybe we wouldn't have to endure so much of the bad--or at least we wouldn't view those trying times as bad as before. I think God wants to offer us infinitely more than we even know and we're holding ourselves back from that life of pure joy and peace by turning so quickly away from Him to lesser things.

Prayer is not meant as a last resort. It's not intended to be used solely in the depths of despair and trial. It's meant to praise God, to commune with Him, to meet Him in the stillness and find the right way, the way He'd have us travel so that maybe we wouldn't need or even feel so many moments of despair and helplessness. Maybe the Psalmist is right in this chapter in his deep longing for the people to "give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"  (vs 8 and others). He pleads for that to happen so that they can follow the right way and know God's goodness. I wonder what it would look like if we prayed without needing something- what kind of a world would that be and what kind of works would God perform in that world?