Why in times like this is prayer so important?
This week, for many, anxiety fills our thoughts as Hurricane Ian marches across Florida and makes it way up the East Coast.
I would start here – no amount of prayer will push a hurricane one direction or another. And if prayer did – if prayer could affect that kind of change - what kind of God would that be if our puny endeavors towards righteousness could determine who does, or does not get struck with a category 4 storm? That simply does not square with a God of love.
What does square with a God of love is the softening of the human heart. Prayer gains significance in that gentle place.
A heart open to prayer, a heart softened by prayer opens to others. Prayers for God’s love is not there to still the storm outside, but to quiet the winds and waves inside. Into that kind of quiet, God speaks gently.
What will one hear? What call will grow? Into that stillness is where we listen for those answers.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)