Being Wise Toward Outsiders

Music is such a meaningful part of the Christian life. From ancient times songs have risen in men's hearts in moments of celebration, for expressing gratitude and adoration, and for other purposes and occasions. This morning we opened with the chorus, "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever." After announcements, Darlene's piano introit expressively conveyed another great song, His Eye Is On The Sparrow. The song is so rich, it seemed appropriate to share a portion of it here.

Why should I feel discouraged,

Why should the shadows fall
Why should my heart be troubled,

When all but hope is gone?
When Jesus is my fortress.

My constant friend is He.
His eye is on the Sparrow,

and I know He watches me.
His eye is on the Sparrow,

and I know He watches me!

I sing because I'm happy,
I sing because I'm free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

A Very Special Sunday

Today the youth of the church carried the Operation Christmas Child gift boxes to the altar which had been assembled for needy children. Then the children's choir sang several songs for us.

The Scripture reading, and the passage upon which the sermon was based, is from Colossians 4:2-6

2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Pastor Brad ascended to the pulpit and after leading us in a time of prayer began his message.

Being Wise Toward Outsiders

Brad began by quizzing us about "famous last words" from Nathan Hale to Dwight Eisenhower and ended with this one. "Who said, 'Please leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub.'?" As at least one member of the congregation knew, it was Conrad Hilton.

This amusing intro was a lead in to the importance of last words in general, and Paul's last words to the Colossians specifically. For most people their last words touch on issues of significance, and so it is with Paul's letter here, the last time he will be addressing the Colossian believers. There were two things burning on Paul's heart, prayer and spreading the Word.

Brad demonstrated his depth of understanding of ancient languages and by explaining to us what the meaning of the words "devote yourselves to prayer" mean. "It means, devote yourselves to prayer." In other words, pray a lot, whether alone or in groups, in all circumstances, in the morning and in the evening and when you're up and when you're down, when you're worried, sick, burdened, broken hearted or when you're soaring and setting records; pray when you're busy and pray when you're bored.

He noted this insight from Dallas Willard. "The more often we pray, the more we think to pray."

In another letter Paul admonished, "Pray without ceasing." It's an ongoing dialogue with God throughout the day.

Brad compared it to having a headset on in which one ear is tuned continually to God's voice and the other to what we are experiencing here and now. Whether driving in a car, or sitting in a meeting at work, we can have an ear open and a dialogue going. "Lord, help me to be effective in this situation."

There's a second component to the life of prayer that is equally important. It is a healthy discipline, to set aside time apart exclusively for prayer. In Matthew 6:6 Jesus said, "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen..."

In short, both of these are important components of the life of prayer, the ongoing dialogue and the time set apart.

In the next portion of this passage Paul spells out what he wishes prayer for, which also has two components. First, he asks them to pray that God will open a door for the Gospel. This is a very important truth. You can't cram Christ through closed doors. God prepares hearts and He does this through our prayers. John 6:44 states "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day." Prayer has to precede evangelism.

Second, he asks them to pray that they will make the message clear. It is clarity, not cleverness, that wins souls and changes lives. Paul did not ask to be impressive, only effective through a clear presentation of the words of life. When the door to peoples' hearts is open, you want to be clear.

Brad shared three values that were important to him when presenting the Good News of life in Christ.

1. "I want the person I am talking to to know our God is filled with love and compassion, that His arms are open to all."

2. "No amount of human effort will make people right with God. You can't save yourself."

3. "There is a decision that needs to be made. You don't drift into faith. You either opt in or you opt out."

The passage encourages hearers to be wise toward outsiders and sensitive. Simultaneously, our conversation is to full of grace, seasoned with salt, which is an interesting description. Paul asks the Colossians to be attractive representatives on behalf of Jesus: loving, winsome, fun, grace-filled. But this little phrase "seasoned with salt" is also an intriguing part of the request.

Brad noted that the salt helps give an edge to the food and that there may be moments when we can make our message clear, but out of fear of offending we may hold back from what we really mean. He cited the Rev. Billy Graham as being a master at this throughout his adult life. He teaches a clear message, prays that God will open doors, treats unbelievers respectfully, and when it comes time for the invitation says there' room at the cross for you, asking people to stand up, to make a decision and not wait for tomorrow because there are no guarantees for tomorrow. This is the salt.

The death rate is 100%. We ourselves and everyone we know is going to die one day. No one escapes that. Thus, it is worth a prayer every morning to ask God to open a door for you to share the Gospel, to be used to transform a life. Then, leave it in God's hands.

The message is our responsibility to share.

Lessons From Moses On Prayer

"I'm delighted you're with us," Pastor Brad began, and on such a beautiful autumn day that felt more like summer he warmly welcomed us. The theme, he said, would be a continuation of last week, based on what Jesus said, "My Father's house shall be a house of prayer."

A few announcements were interjected before commencing the service. We were reminded that next week church begins at 10:15 and that afterwards we will all go to Twig Park for a potluck picnic. We hope you will all be there.

Also, the new church directory is almost done. (After the service your faithful blog scribe noticed a few people scrambling to get last minute pictures taken.) This Thursday a few volunteers will be gathering here at the church to assemble and staple together the directories for distribution.

After an introit by Darlene, Pastor Brad led us in worship.

Today's Scripture readings were as follows...

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

Mark 7:24-37

After the offering, and a time of prayer, Brad took the pulpit to continue his theme.

Lessons From Moses On Prayer

As with last week, Brad asked how we would rate our personal prayer lives on a scale of 1 to 10. He reminded us once again that God's prevailing power flows through those who pray.

After reading again the passage from Exodus 17:8ff Brad noted that the battle was not won in the valley below, but on the hillside, through prayer. Joshua indeed served his purpose, and did need to fight, but the battle was won on the mountain.

In short, we must seriously devote time to prayer if we would be victorious in our daily battles. This is an important business. Get out your calendars and mark them, set aside time for prayer. Moses did not lead the troops. He was away from the battle.

In our modern times we are obsesses with being productive. Producing visible stuff has value, by some standards. But what has value by God's standard? Brad tested us. Which of the following are Productive and which are Unproductive?

Work?

Watching TV?

Using large power tools?

Vacation?

Prayer?

By the world's standard prayer falls into the unproductive category, along with TV and vacation.

Too often we let the world set our agenda. To the world, prayer does not seems productive, though some try to crib this a little by saying if we prayer more, our lives will become more efficient, as if God is a button we can push to make things fall our way.

Brad reminded us though that prayer time is not wasted time. It does involve a sacrifice of time.

He told a story about a judge he knew who turned down a Federal Judgeship because it would cut into the time he spent in prayer. His prayer life was more important than career advancement.

Several points were made throughout the sermon drawn from this passage. First, that we are utterly dependent upon God. Second, that prayer takes time. Third, Moses accomplished his task with the help of some aids. Here are examples of things that helped. He went up onto a hillside where he could see what was going on. This vantage point gave him a good view. We, too, need to find ways to stay in touch with what is going on.

Brad suggested some of the following small ways we can be praying for others. We can pray for each person we meet during the course of a day. When we read the paper we can pray for those whose names we encounter there.

Moses,when he climbed up on the hill, carried the staff which he had with him years before when he first encountered God at the burning bush. This staff had been transformed briefly into a poisonous snake, before he was instructed to grab its tail, whereupon it became his staff again. Wherever he carried it, the staff was a visible reminder of the power of God.

Brad asked if our minds ever wander while in prayer. A few chuckles... because who has not experienced this at one time or another. It is one of the great difficulties of prayer. He cited a quote by Henri Nouwen that our minds are like a banana tree filled with monkeys, all jumping about, quite distracting when we're trying to be still.

Sometimes we need aids to help us be still, or to feel God's presence. One man placed a chair in the room to acknowledge Jesus' presence.

The verse, "Be still and know that I am God" is our starting point.

A fourth lesson from the passage is that Moses involved other. Aaron and Hur came with him up the hillside. Brad noted that our deacons are "praying deacons" who are helping fight the battle with regard to our church mission. We ourselves can ask others to pray with us or for us.

Brad outlined a fifth lesson: afterwards the built an altar. The altar acknowledged God had been there to help them win the battle. One example of a way we can close the loop might be to write down answers to prayer in a journal.

As we face the new year, building decisions and new programs, the most important project is making God's house a house of prayer.

Celebration of the sacrament of communion followed the message.

House of Prayer

The pre-service gathering was vibrant with energy that carried over into Pastor Brad's morning greeting as he commented on this noisy and exuberant hustle bustle of hugs and expressions of warmth and welcome. Indeed there is a celebratory aspect of worship, and then there is a quieter contemplative aspect.

Brad introduced his theme for the net two weeks: prayer. "Prayer is the battle," he stated, noting that we tend to get enamored with lesser forms of power. "What if prayer itself was the most powerful thing?"

A few announcements were conveyed. On the 13th we will be meeting at the Twig Town Hall for Rally Day. Joanne mentioned that we have had an expanding Sunday School program and would benefit from a couple additional teachers. Sunday School will begin Sept 20 and run thru Dec. 13. In addition, the adult Sunday School would welcome additional teachers for four week classes. Darlene will also be leading a choir during this class time.

The quartet was joined by Levi on the drums this morning for worship. After a reading of Psalm 89 we were lifted up by the great Gospel song "Yes, I Am."

The Scripture reading after the offering included passages from Psalm 45 and Mark 7. This was followed by a prayer time, suitable to today's theme.

House of Prayer

Brad held up Philip Yancey's book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference to begin this morning's message. Yancey tells how he has had the opportunity to travel extensively in the very darkest places of the world, places with great persecution. There is a natural inclination to help in the face of such suffering, but the single most repeated request was for prayer. "Just pray for us."

Before turning to today's text Brad asked, "How satisfied on a scale of zero to ten are you with your prayer life?" Ten would be the top end. You carve out times to be alone with God, your first instinct in times of need is to pray, and you carry prayer concerns not simply of your own but for the whole world.

On the other hand, if you find yourself largely prayerless, and your prayer life is blocked by patterns of sin or unforgiveness, if you allow busyness to make you fairly prayerless and prayer is a burden for you, then that would be zero.

Then Brad asked, "Where would yo like that number to be a year from now when we meet here on August 30, 2010? What level will you be praying at then?"

Brad was setting us up for a challenge. Brad's goal for himself and for each of us is to have a deeper sense of prayer than before. No matter what else gets accomplished, this goal will be number one.

Jesus said in Luke 19:46 that "My house shall be a house of prayer."

Brad asked each of us to do our part, not only to pray but to ask for prayer. Then he had us turn in our Bibles to Exodus 17 beginning at verse 8.

8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."
10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

Beginning with this passage Pastor Brad intended to draw out five things about prayer. First, I need to recognize my utter dependence upon the power of God. God's prevailing power flows through people who pray.

This is the first time in Scripture that Joshua, who later led Israel into the Promised Land, is mentioned. The Amalekites have attacked Israel, and Joshua leads the battle. Moses, meanwhile, climbs a mountain, accompanied by Aaron and Hur, to intercede in prayer. As long as Moses' hands are lifted, the tide of the battle flows in the favor of Israel. But when Moses lowers his arms to rest, the momentum of battle moves the other direction. Upon recognizing this, Moses sits and uses the help of Aaron and Hur to keep his hands lifted for the remainder of the day.

From an earthly point of view, Joshua went down in history as the winning general. But it was only by the power of God that he won, power released through the intercession of Moses. The battle was not won in the battle, Brad said, but on the hillside.

Prayer is not an aid in battle. Prayer is the battle.

This kind of thinking has significant ramifications. What if church growth is not about strategies for growth, but has more to do with the hidden person or persons who were praying?

Maybe our church is being blessed because of those unseen lifted hands. Whatever you do, don't stop now. God's prevailing power flows through those who pray.

Brad described the manner in which the Stealth Bomber makes an impression on people when they see it. But he said compared to prayer even this is an inferior form of power. "We tend to get impressed by inferior forms of power," he said. This is nothing new. The Psalmist wrote of it in this passage: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord, our God."

We trust in God, and His power is released through prayer.

Surrender Daily

This morning we celebrated a baptism, toward which Pastor Brad directed his opening remarks on a Sunday morning both chilly and sunny, the baptism of Keegan Michael Clark.

"God is pursuing Keegan even now," Brad said before turning his opening comments to today's theme. "We sing surrender songs, but we have parts of our lives where we want to run from God. It is a matter of willfulness vs. willingness." And we were warmly welcomed.

Announcements included the following:
1) The next women's Bible study will be February 27. Brad conveyed the message that last Friday's study was great, and it's not too late to join us.
2) "Dr. Leonard" stood to note that Feb. 14 is our Valentine's Banquet. Put it on your calendars.
3) Paula indicated that there is a church calendar on the wall by the kitchen where all church activities should be noted. This will help in organizing our church year.
4) The Secret Friends sign up sheets are still available for all women who wish to participate.

The Worship Team led us in a number of songs to prepare us for today's message, which was followed by today's baptism, which Pastor Brad explained was a "visible sign of covenant making."

Pastor became quite emotional during the baptism, reflecting on the innocence of youth and how challenging life can be later. "There are tough things coming... we need to pray for our little ones." It was a very moving ceremony as he displayed the newly baptized Keegan up and down the aisle.

The offering was taken and today's Scripture reading conducted.
Psalm 62:5-12
Mark 1:14-20

After a time of prayer for needs in the church, the sermon commenced.

Surrender Daily

Brad noted that there will be a time when we pray one of two prayers; either, "Not my will but Yours be done," or "God, not your will, but mine be done." He proceeded to draw upon events from the life of Moses to bring alive his message.

Moses was born during a time when the Pharaoh of Egypt decreed that all male children must be thrown into the river. As "chance" would have it, Moses was placed in a basket at three months of age and floated downstream. The Pharaoh's daughter found him and raised him as her own son, naming him Moses, which means, "I drew him out of the water."

Raised as he was in Pharaoh's house gave him a Golden Boy outlook on life. He was "Destiny's Child." He had power and a future. But he was aware that he was a Hebrew and still felt an identification with his people. On one occasion he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and decided something must be done. After looking this way and that, Moses took advantage of the isolated opportunity and killed the Egyptian, hiding the body and evidence of his wrongdoing.

His intentions may have been good, but instead of looking left and right he should have looked up. Did he pray before taking such extreme action? Did he acknolwedge his dependence on God?

In the midst of this story Brad noted how children are quite cute in infancy, but at age two or so they discover a new word: "No!" It's a willfulness that seems part of our nature. God gave us a will, the ability to make choices. The problem is when we want our way, our will, even if it hurts others or even contradicts God's will.

The endpoint toward which the sermon directed us was this simple prayer: "Thy will be done." In a quick summation Brad applied this to several areas of our lives.

In the workplace, some of us are in jobs where we spend our lives in "impression management." Often making a good impression is at the expense of others. In church many are aware of the importance of tithing, but haven't made an effort to move toward this spiritual discipline. Even simple things, like who gets to use the armrest on an airplane or who will yield in a discussion to allow the other to speak, we're exerting our wills or submitting to one another in love.

We begin to bring joy to God's heart when we say, "Not my will, but Thine be done. Our willfulness or decision to become willing needs to be made today.

Would Jesus Be A Christian?

“I’m glad you’re here today,” Pastor Brad said, welcoming us warmly. As is often his manner, he briefly outlined his theme. Today we would focus on prayer, and what it means for us to be Christians. After the service we would conduct a semi-annual meeting to which we were all invited.

Two announcements that needed to be mentioned. First, next Sunday there will be a meal at the Swamp Sisters to which we are all invited, courtesy the Armstrongs. Cost is a free will offering, all proceeds to the New Life Covenant building fund. Second, November 5th we will be packing Samaritans Purse Christmas boxes during Adventure Club. Everyone is invited.

Darlene, Ken & Chuck opened the service with “Something Beautiful” as we entered in worship.

Pastor changed the Scripture reading to Matthew 6:25-30 and 7:9-11, which was followed by special music from Dana who briefly shared from her heart about prayer, noting that there is a difference between foxhole prayers and mature prayer.

After we spent time praying for the needs of the body, Pastor Brad spoke to us from his heart.

Would Jesus Be A Christian?

Pastor Shannon began his sermon by drawing for us two illustrations which he borrowed from Brian McLaren’s book A Generous Orthodoxy. The first illustration shows how many, if not most, people experience salvation. The large circle is “me” because for most people, our approach to God is, “What can Jesus do for me?” The second circle is the church, which we then become a part of which in some distant way is part of the world.

The second image illustrates an alternate perspective. Jesus came to save the world. The church is the means to this end. When we become Christians, we ourselves can become part of this world picture, and God’s overarching purposes.

With this perspective, everything changes.

Brad then introduced a second book, The Prayer of Jabez, by Bruce Wilkinson. Though a small book it received major acclaim when it was introduced eight years ago. The book is essentially about a relatively minor Old Testament character and his famous prayer which is recorded in I Chronicles 4.

According to Wilkinson when we pray for God to bless us, as Jabez prayed, God will bless us.

To Pastor Brad, this sounded a bit like magic, as if our prayer would make God do this.

Pastor Brad shared that the name Jabez is actually based on a word that means pain. Because the Hebrews delighted in wordplay, there seems to be an aspect of this story that gets lost in translation. The words Jabez uses include the request that he be free from pain. (NIV, verse 10)

But Brad noted that other translations that convey a different shade of meaning. Here is verse 10 from the New King James Version:

10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

Pastor Brad noted that there is a truth here. That we are indeed to ask God to bless us, not because we’re worthy, but because we are His children and nothing is too small for God.

There is a context in Scripture for this truth that we need to keep in mind. In Matthew 6, in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about prayer. But afterwards, the Lord reminds us that worry and anxiety over things we want and feel we need ought not be our primary concern.

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Being blessed by God was never intended to be an end in itself. God wants to bless us for a higher purpose, to redeem the world. Yes, we should ask to be blessed, but for the purpose of being a blessing to others.

The prayer of Jabez that we need to make our own is this: “Lord, give me a new identity so I am not a pain, causing pain….”

Brad’s prayer is that we’d pray to be blessed so that we can be a blessing.

It was an abbreviated service today because afterwards we had our Semi-Annual Congregational Meeting.

Very briefly, the key decisions made, after committee minutes and a pastor’s report were given, dealt with approving the budget, assembling a new nominating committee, and hearing the building committee report. A new budget was approved, a nominating committee assembled and a recommendation to purchase approximately 4.2 acres for the purposes of a potential new building sometime in the future was discussed. As a result of the careful and thoughtful manner in which this recommendation has been developed, the recommendation passed unanimously.

For additional details on all these matters, contact the deacons, treasurer or members of the building committee.

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Why Pray?

Pastor Brad began by noting that we are closing our 5 week series on James. Do we need something? We are to pray for it. Re God’s word, we should drink it in and live it out. Don’t just hear the Word but DO what it says.

Today’s Sermon: “Why Pray?”

Can we change the mind and heart of God? Can you actually get through? We’ve all experienced the sort of calls when trying to get through to a person we get messages to push one button after another and get left on hold. Sometimes we try to send an email And it somehow gets lost in cyberspace. Sometimes prayer feels like “a spasm of words lost in a cosmic chasm of indifference."

The truth is that everyone prays. We pray because we cannot help it. In any given week we pray more than we work out, drive, or clock in on our job. Nine out of ten people say that they pray regularly. Even atheists pray. It seems to be hardwired in us. We long to connect even when we don’t believe in God. We pray for healing, for peace, strength for someone else to be healed. When there’s turbulence in a plane everyone on it is praying.

Jesus always snuck away to pray. He made himself unavailable to people so as to make himself close to God. He embraced it as his absolute lifeline. His disciples didn’t ask Jesus to teach them how to walk on water. They asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. They saw that it was a life giving connection to God and they wanted that.

Prayer gives us better focus instantly like lasik surgery.

Job prayed “My world is falling apart. Couldn’t you at least show up God?” Then God does show up and asks questions of Job and suddenly brings everything back into focus.

Prayer helps us reverse roles and gives us awareness of God’s hugeness. It brings reality back into focus. We can come down from our CEO office and find better ways to define success. When we pray we can vacate our mind. The word “vacate” is related to “vacation”. Prayer is like a vacation, a time when we can change our perspective.

I am not the center of the universe. I am a small player in the epic story of God. Life is about His story, His greatness, His plan.

Is anyone sick? We can invite God into the process to help us. Pastor Brad then noted that sometimes there are healing miracles, and sometimes not, but that if people are not healed of physical illness it does not mean that their faith is too small. Sometimes prayer for healing brings us spiritually to a place of peace with God by confessing our sins. There also is a natural aging process we all go through.

Why pray? Because Jesus told us to pray. When our children ask us for things we always want to answer them, but we also want what is best for them.

In Revelation 8 all of heaven shut up to listen to our prayers.

There are certain things that we do not tell others about ourselves but God always knows what is really true about my heart. Go into your closet and pray and be alone with God. Prayer restores the reality of God’s grace and His longing to lavish it upon you. Prayer is keeping company with God. Come to Him in respect and awe, but also in confidence.

Prayer is an ongoing relationship and conversation with God. Sometimes my prayer is like a country music song. It just is telling what is going on in my life. Other times it is more like a rock and roll song. It has a constant and persistent beat that just keeps coming. Other times it’s like jazz. It goes in different directions and you don’t know what’s coming next. Then there are times when it is very much like the blues.

At this point in the sermon Darlene played a few chords of blues style on the piano while Pastor Brad sang some of David’s words from Psalm 22. “My God, Why have You forsaken me? Why are you so far from the words of my groaning? I cry out but You do not answer.” We can get out our feelings of disappointment, anger and frustration to God, He invites us to pray like that. After expressing his feelings to God, David then says “You are faithful”

Prayer is ultimately a love song. Stay connected to the lover of your soul.

Unseen Footprints

During the opening announcements Pastor Shannon asked us all to stand for a moment of silence for Bonnie Finkbeiner who on October 16 continued the next part of her life in the presence of her Savior.

The Scripture readings today were from Jeremiah 31:27-34 and Luke 18:1-8.

The message, Unseen Footprints, was an exposition of Psalm 77.

Where does prayer begin? For the psalmist, it is not cozy comfort or ritual that produces our deepest prayers, rather it is pain.

Though the circumstances that initiated this psalm are not identified here in this passage, there are many sources of pain. In numerous psalms it is national calamity that crushes the spirit of the writer, causing him to cry out to God with groanings too deep for words. Other times it is personal circumstances. It might be the illness, or death, of a child. It might be heartbreak in relationships, or a broken marriage.

Prayer is born in the depths. In the first portion of this psalm, the writer cries out to God. “I stretched out my untiring hands”… as if drowning. “I was too troubled to speak,” he says. Like drowning, one is aware of his or her helplessness. In other places the psalmists compare their circumstances to being confined in a pit. This is the place where pain and prayer come together.

The second section of the psalm reveals the questions that emerge when it seems God is far off. Will the Lord reject us forever? Will He never show favor again? Has His unfailing love vanished forever? Has His promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?”

“Why are such questions in the Bible?” Pastor Shannon asked. In reply he noted that God is not far from us, but rather, He is near. But there is no path to Easter (& the Resurrection) but through Good Friday and the Cross.

The good news is that even when we can’t see Jesus, He can see us.

The psalmist’s anguished questioning is summed up with this specific thought: Has God’s right hand lost its grip?

The third section of Psalm 77 leads to the re-connection: Remember. Remember the good deeds of the Lord. Think about this, meditate on this. Let your thoughts dwell on this. God has been good to you. Remember all He has done. He has been faithful. When we remember, we re-connect.

The concluding portion of the psalm contains a very interesting statement. “His footprints were unseen.”

God may not be visible but he has always been present. He has always been at work.

Like poet Francis Thomas’ “Hound of Heaven,” God will never stop pursuing us when we stray and will never forsake us. Like a good shepherd, God leads us to a land where there is no more sorrow, where we can bask forever in the presence of our loving God.


During the children's challenge, Pastor Shannon used blocks to illustrate the message from Psalm 127:1, "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain."