What Do I Want?

•August 10, 2015 • 2 Comments

Solomon making a sacrifice to the idols

Me?

What do I want?

But look how I have
got things wrong,
not followed your path,
chosen other ways,
gone against what you ask.
I have tried to merge your way
with another way
and it doesn’t work.

Yet despite all that,
you still invite me,
ask me,
call me
and give to me.

What should I ask of you,
what do I long for,
yearn for?
What do I need from you?

Thank you Lord,
that you continue to ask me,
invite me to call to you,
whatever I have done,
wherever I have wandered to,
that we are still talking
and you still long to give to me.

So today,
I stop
and think.

What do I want from you?

Really,
truly?

Not the easy answers,
the quick fixes,
the attractive distractions

what do I really want from you,
in the depths of my being?
What do I need
to live my life
for you,
to fulfil
what you call me to?

Lord,
grant to me also
wisdom,
wisdom to know
and to ask
for the right things;
to live the right way;
to bring glory,
always,
to you.

Solomon prays for wisdom http://www.cultureelerfgoed.nl/

Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom

Teach Me to Dance to the beat of your heart

1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14 (CEV)

David Dies

10-11 David was king of Israel forty years. He ruled seven years from Hebron and thirty-three years from Jerusalem. Then he died and was buried in Jerusalem. 12 His son Solomon became king and took control of David’s kingdom.

33 Solomon loved the Lord and followed his father David’s instructions, but Solomon also offered sacrifices and burned incense at the shrines.

4 The most important shrine was in Gibeon, and Solomon had offered more than a thousand sacrifices on that altar.

5 One night while Solomon was in Gibeon, the Lord God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Solomon, ask for anything you want, and I will give it to you.”

6 Solomon answered:

My father David, your servant, was honest and did what you commanded. You were always loyal to him, and you gave him a son who is now king.7 Lord God, I’m your servant, and you’ve made me king in my father’s place. But I’m very young and know so little about being a leader. 8 And now I must rule your chosen people, even though there are too many of them to count.

9 Please make me wise and teach me the difference between right and wrong. Then I will know how to rule your people. If you don’t, there is no way I could rule this great nation of yours.

10-11 God said:

Solomon, I’m pleased that you asked for this. You could have asked to live a long time or to be rich. Or you could have asked for your enemies to be destroyed. Instead, you asked for wisdom to make right decisions. 12 So I’ll make you wiser than anyone who has ever lived or ever will live.

13 I’ll also give you what you didn’t ask for. You’ll be rich and respected as long as you live, and you’ll be greater than any other king. 14 If you obey me and follow my commands, as your father David did, I’ll let you live a long time.

for my other post on this passage, see here

Posted in bible, faith, God, hope, Lectionary, life, Religion, theology
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Book Review: When I Pray What Does God Do?

•August 7, 2015 • 3 Comments

9780857216045

When I Pray What Does God Do?is written by David Wilkinson and published by Lion Hudson.

David writes as a scientist and a theologian.

The basis of the book is miracles, how they might happen, where there is space for them within scientific structures and what effect praying can have on them.  He explores science, both old, now out of date science, and the revelations that new science have brought – and the possibilities for God to work in that.  He faces the questions of how God can, does and apparently doesn’t answer prayer; how it is possible for God to act in response to prayer, whilst still maintaining the ‘rules’ by which the world works.  Various understandings of prayer are also examined and the reality that “prayer does not always save us from the very worst of circumstances” (p89) are there throughout.

The expositions of science are highly accessible and easy to grasp – even the ‘big’ principles.  The space for God within that shines through.  It is very illuminating to consider prayer and God’s work in the context of science and how that works.  He covers also such themes as the apparent injustice of some prayers being answered and others not, and what prayer is actually about anyway, all underpinned by the bible.

I did find the use of the phrase “unanswered prayer” frustrating.  Especially given that he says that, “we judge God’s response to our prayer in an isolated way, not allowing the possibility of some bigger story at work” (p92).  I personally consider a ‘no’ to a prayer still to be an answer – which is touched upon in the final chapter in conversations with our children – whatever our answer, it is good to talk.  Even if our answer is that we are praying the wrong prayer, I consider that still to be an answer – a very important one if we will listen to it.

Over all, though this book is very interesting and challenging, I did have two questions (which is not a bad thing in a book!):

if prayer and miracles can be explained, or at least shown how they are possible, with science, does that make them miracles?  Why pray for God to do what he is already doing?  Or does that go to reinforce that in prayer we are aligning ourselves with what God is already doing?

Do I need to understand how prayer works?  Or is it like the working of the internal combustion engine and I only need to know that it does work and how to make that happen?  I guess the answer to that depends on the kind of person you are!

In the end, for me, I found this book was answering a question I wasn’t asking.  But maybe I should be!

It is always good to think about faith, prayer, how God works and how we work with him – and this book fulfils that admirably.  A challenging and stimulating book – especially if you are an asker of ‘how?’

Posted in Book Review, Book Reviews, faith, God, Religion, theology
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So Easy to Grumble

•August 6, 2015 • 1 Comment

You offer me life,
sustenance,
strength

and I grumble.

I grumble about
where it has come from,
is it safe,
is it right
and proper,
what do others think,
would it be approved of?

Instead of looking at you,
listening
and receiving.

Forgive me Lord,
my stupid questions,
my reluctance,
my hesitancy
to receive what you offer –
so freely,
so generously.

Lord,
may I come
and eat
and live
for you.

John 6:35, 41-51 (CEV)

35 Jesus replied:

I am the bread that gives life! No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who has faith in me will ever be thirsty.

41 The people started grumbling because Jesus had said he was the bread that had come down from heaven. 42 They were asking each other, “Isn’t he Jesus, the son of Joseph? Don’t we know his father and mother? How can he say that he has come down from heaven?”

43 Jesus told them:

Stop grumbling! 44 No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me makes them want to come. But if they do come, I will raise them to life on the last day. 45 One of the prophets wrote, “God will teach all of them.” And so everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him will come to me.

46 The only one who has seen the Father is the one who has come from him. No one else has ever seen the Father. 47 I tell you for certain that everyone who has faith in me has eternal life.

48 I am the bread that gives life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, and later they died. 50 But the bread from heaven has come down, so that no one who eats it will ever die. 51 I am that bread from heaven! Everyone who eats it will live forever. My flesh is the life-giving bread that I give to the people of this world.

Bread of Life

For a different post on this reading see here

Posted in bible, faith, God, Jesus, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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