Diligence

After the flurry of answered prayer over the past couple of weeks (which I am not at liberty to post online), I feel odd. Yesterday God showed me that I am still poor and needy, that I cannot ride on the crest of this wave. Today He shows me that I need to keep on praying.

My devotional verses today are Psalm 35:1-3: “Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me; fight against those who fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help. Also draw out the spear, and stop those who pursue me. Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation.’”

From this I realize that I need to renew steadfast prayer, even for those battlefields in which it seems the fight has been won. I have felt like stopping; prayer is hard work. But the enemy of our souls never stops. He is continually seeking ways to destroy the faith of those long established in faith, never mind those who are just becoming aware of their own spiritual needs.

Prayer is my work and my obligation. Samuel even said that stopping that work is a sin against God: “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way” (1 Samuel 12:23). He has given me much work to do, and I need to keep myself fit for the task.

Today’s reading from Ears from Harvested Sheaves says, “To keep water sweet, it must be perpetually running; and to keep the life of God up in the soul, there must be continual exercises. This is the reason why the Lord’s people have so many conflicts, trials, painful exercises, sharp sorrows, and deep temptations—to keep them alive unto God; to bring them out of, and to keep them out of that slothful, sluggish, wretched state of carnal security and dead assurance in which so many seem to have fallen asleep—fallen asleep like the sailor upon the top of the mast, not knowing what a fearful gulf is boiling up below.”

I remember my first time on the open sea in a small Alaskan fishing boat. The sea was relatively calm, at least it looked that way from the shore. Out in the open water it rolled and boiled, yet had this odd quality of looking almost like jelly, as if you could step out and walk on it. How deceptive.

This reading and that memory remind me that even when the sea appears calm and even looks safe to walk on, people (myself included) can still drown in it. I need to continually be aware that the sea of this life is still very perilous for some. I might be up on the top of the mast, but I need to be wide awake and aware of what I’m supposed to be doing, even calling to God for continual assurance that I am in this safe spot because He is my salvation.