Ensign: What A Difference Twenty-Three Years Makes

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 2 August 2013

1990. The year I graduated high school and started college. I was eighteen years old – my birthday's not until December, and I was born in 1971. And twenty-three years ago today, the Middle Eastern nation of Iraq invaded and occupied its southeastern and much smaller neighbor Kuwait. This is also when, at least in my lifetime, you first heard word of a “new world order” popularized by then-President Bush because this was the first Soviet era issue where the United States and the Soviet Union weren't at loggerheads with each other; it seemed all the world's great nations agreed on something and we truly were looking forward to a world where we wouldn't wake up one morning to a nuclear blast.

2013. We'll see. The Soviet Union collapsed Christmas Eve the next year into Russia and fourteen other republics, and the United States found itself in a world with, quite literally, no rivals. Oh there was (and is) China, but barring a major shift in alliances, it's highly unlikely anyone or any group – yes, the current War on Terror notwithstanding – is going to break us. Batter us, yes; knock us down, yes; convince us that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, yes. But break us? My friend, you and I, no matter where we are in the world, are in a unique position right now, not only by virtue of the educational opportunities we can avail ourselves of but also because our world is a so much smaller.

What happens here can affect so much around the world, and what happens even in the smallest countries can affect us so profoundly. And that's the power of prayer.

(Take a minute … let that settle in … then continue)

Can I admit to you that I don't find prayer easy? (From the coach in A League of Their Own: If it were easy, everybody would do it!) Not because I don't know what I want – indeed, if we are not careful prayer is going to degenerate just into asking God for what we want, from forgiveness (what sounds spiritual enough) to healing (which when you or a loved one's sick is very valuable indeed) to stuff. Whenever we call on the LORD – the third commandment against taking the name of God in vain (Exodus 20:7) is not only about cursing Him, it's about just saying His name when you really don't want His attention, which you have all the time anyway – we need to be focused on Him.

What we call The Lord's Prayer in church – flip over to Matthew 6:9-15 – is a model for how you and I should pray, but we don't always need to stick to formula. Nothing's WRONG with reciting “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name....” in every prayer we make, but we can express our adoration of our Father in other words, in actions even. (Did I just sound like Snagglepuss?) Sometimes when I'm pouring out my heart to God it comes out as gibberish, or I don't say anything – not because I'm afraid God will think too little of me if I don't stick to form but rather that I'm the one who over-dwells on something I know I cannot deal with. I don't like begging for attention; no one should.

When Jesus begins this teaching on prayer in – again, what we call – the Sermon on the Mount, He begins not with the manner in which to pray but with where and how we should be (Matthew 6:5-8), in our figurative prayer closets, not doing it for the attention from others, and cutting to the chase. Our Father already knows what we're in prayer for, but He needs to know we know. Even in public worship, we can pray as though we're the only person there. For very often we are. And though MY prayers are different now when I'm forty-one than they were when I was eighteen, they're just as easy to convey to God Who hasn't changed in His love or listening in all that time. We all need that.

Glory to God,

David

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager too! If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!

 

We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world.

 

Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either.

 

Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.