Tag: Numbers

Devotional 209: The Wilderness of Sin

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Exodus 16:1-4
Bread from Heaven

16 And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. 2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

The children of Israel complained against the Egyptians, then they grew angry with G-d, then they grew angry with Moses and his family, then Moses’ family grew angry at Moses along with the rest of Israel.

They would not be satisfied because they would not submit, and we’re like that with the G-d we pray to, claim to love, say we worship, and vow to glorify. While our intentions are good, and we fulfill the vows as long as we see a manifestation of our prayers and the fulfilling of our desires, what happens when we don’t see them?

Did G-d not send them a deliverer? Did G-d not afflict their enemies? Did G-d not have them take wealth from the land that enslaved them? Did He not provide for them in the wilderness instead of leaving them to die because of their cowardice in the face of His promise to deliver them a land He provided for them, when they had to expend some effort to attain the blessing with a guarantee of victory?

Remember too, their cowardice in sending Moses to the mountain to speak with Him alone instead of gathering in His presence.

If we are the flock, and sin is the wilderness, let us be mindful that when we wander from the Savior that the Father sent us, we are as prone to murmuring and attack as any of the grumbling Israelites.

Recall that they watched Dathan and his cronies and their families fall into the earth, and Miriam plagued and put outside the camp, yet they didn’t stop complaining to the point where Moses asked G-d to kill him rather than continue to lead them and fail. (Numbers 11:15)

Then they tested G-d to the point where Moses then had to intercede to keep the tribes from destruction. (Deuteronomy 9:13-14)

They left the manna and hoarded the quails, not listening to either Moses or G-d.

One could ask, and some have: If G-d is omnipotent, why do we need to expend any effort in purifying ourselves and re-establishing fellowship? Is it not the Father’s role to come to the children?

But He has, in the sending of His Son, Jesus. And as we are the ones who’ve sinned because of our rebellious hearts, it is we who must expend the effort to be reconciled.

He’s even made that easy for us, in that all we have to do is believe and obey what Jesus told us. Through faith in Him, there is no covering, no sacrifice, no ritual as with the pagans. There is confession, repentance, faith, prayer, obedience, and carrying out the commission to go and make disciples of all nations, not just the ones that look like you.

The choice to serve is ours. So are the blessings, and so are the consequences.

Our Father’s plan to reconcile, redeem, and restore us to rest in His kingdom, in the presence of His eternal glory under the scepter of His holy Son, has been given to us, as is the guarantee of our own victory over Satan if we believe with no sensory proof as the pagans seek.

It will not cost us nothing, as when David bought the farmer’s threshing floor despite the man offering it freely to his king. Indeed, it may cost us our very lives. But He gave His for us, in the face of our rebellion and unbelief.

What can we offer Him that He needs? What vow can we make that we won’t break? What acts can we do without expectation of reward? What territories can we enlarge and not cause harm?

We are not called to only hear, but do, His will on earth, as it is in Heaven. If He tells us to do it, that means it can and should be done, because He also tells us that all things are possible with G-d.

Are we doing it? Will we?

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven,

There are days I seek the wilderness, but not to isolate myself to pray and meditate on Your holy Word, but to the wilderness of sin to indulge my flesh in its backsliding, tuning out the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit saying, ‘Do not commit this sin. It is rebellious in the Lord’s sight, and your confessions and repentance have now been rendered lawlessness, for which the Son will cast you out,, and the Father utterly destroy you, as if you never were, cut off without remedy.’

The covenant of grace is not a license to sin, and the atonement of Christ’s blood is not to be taken for granted. One may still die in their sin, and be purged at the harvest, for we are reminded that not everyone who says ‘Lord’ will enter. (Matthew 7:21)

It is indeed a foolish sheep who seeks to leave its Shepherd and walk alone in the dark, with no light of Heaven to guide it, walking in the territory of the wolf and serpent.

Call to us once more, Lord Jesus, and receive our wretched presence into Your flock so the enemy does not snatch us from Your mighty hand.

Quench in me the desire to wander, to go astray, to lead astray, and be a danger to myself and my immortal soul.

Let me return to You from the wilderness of sin.

Seal Your Word to my spirit, now and forever.

Amen.

Devotional 208: Spiritual Grasshoppers

The Old Testament sets before us the examples of love, grace, mercy, and justice the Father has for us.

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1 Samuel 17:10-11

10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Numbers 13:32-33

32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7)

Throughout the Bible we see the Father working through the unlikely, the flawed, and the broken, as we are inherently sinful because the Tree of Knowledge was violated by disobedience. Therefore G-d is just in following through on the physical and spiritual rebuking we incur as a decision to go against Him.

Railing against His sovereignty to discipline His creation we would do well to remember that it is we who break the connection of fellowship with Him, and we are admonished to remedy the breech and seek Him while He may be found. (Isaiah 55:6)

Israel’s trials and redemptions serve as a macrocosm of our individual rebellion. We want to be in control, and set G-d aside for when we need Him, but the ‘problem’ is this: He is omnipotent, sovereign, and holy. He will not compromise with our sinful natures.

If we ever believed we’d never stray from G-d if He manifested Himself to us as He did to the Israelites, (Deut: 7:6) we’re only lying to ourselves. They were so easily prone to grumbling, sin, and backsliding that G-d asked Moses the following question:

11 Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? (Num: 14:41)

In turn, Moses asked G-d this:

15 If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!” (Num: 11:15)

As elaborate, long, and repetitious as it may seem, G-d’s presence among the Hebrews seems, the Old Testament sets before us the examples of love, mercy, grace, and finally, justice the Father is capable of showing.

Through the Apostle Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, we are told the war between spirit and flesh is ongoing, and death is the only thing that can stop it. It will remain so for all generations of mankind, before the sinless Son comes to purge the Kingdom of all Satan’s works.

“The choices are simple. Living them ain’t easy.” (Find Him by Cassandra Wilson New Moon Daughter ℗ 1995 Blue Note Records)

“Nevertheless, because You have said…” (Luke 5:5)

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven

I would not test Your patience, provoke You to anger, or bear Your punishment, including the utter destruction of my very soul. It is the fate of the wicked and faithless, from which Your Son, in conveying Your love for me, has called me out of their company.

Today, and now, I thank You for sending Him to me, for He has counted me worthy to reveal the truth of Your Word to me, and seal me to Heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit, that I might glorify You in thought, word, and deed as I walk in His light back to You.

Forgive me, sovereign Father, and remember my sins, transgressions, iniquities, backsliding, and rebellion no more, through my faith in His redeeming blood on Calvary’s cross.

I choose to serve You, partaking of the covenant of grace and mercy extended to those who are not Your people. (1 Peter 2:10) (Hosea 2:23)

With the praises of a grateful heart, I bless Your holy Name.

Amen.

Devotional 192: The Kingdom of Heaven at Hand

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Matthew 3:2 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Matthew 4:17 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

First came John, the Nazarene hermit, who leapt for joy in his mother’s womb in the presence of the Promised One. As he began to fulfill his purpose, he warned of the wrath to come for the unbelieving as well as the unrepentant, and he let them know the time was close. He told them what needed to be done, there would be no compromise, and the consequences of remaining irreconciled.

As Jesus grew and found favor with His Father, and among men, astounding the rabbis in His youth and preaching a different message in a different style from the religious leaders of His say, he was no less emphatic in stating what needed to be done, that there would be no compromise, and the consequences for remaining irreconciled.

Today we see the Lord’s prophecies unfolding on the world stage, and indeed, many of us are taking part in it whether we want to believe it or not. Reading about the end times was interesting, but seeing it come to pass is frightening.

We are watching humanity try, as the Pharisees did, to ascribe spiritual conditions to earthly things. Wealth makes you important, certain politics give a moral high ground, and the faithless and unrepentant take pride in their intelligence and mock the Pharisees of our day as hypocrites, yet don’t seek G-d for themselves.

Their first mistake and most fatal mistake is that they keep describing Him as an ‘invisible man in the sky.’ We are doomed to failure by making G-d in our image, and even some in the church use this description as the messages they preach lessen the emphasis on sin and repentance as the way to inheriting the Kingdom.

Jesus tells us G-d is Spirit. (John 4:24)

The OT tells us G-d is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. He keeps the Word He’s spoken to us. (Numbers 23:19)

This is the time of division the Lord spoke of bringing, where members of the same house will be against one another. Repent, that you might inherit the kingdom at hand.

These times are the heralding of times to come, where two will be working side by side, and one will be taken and the other left. Repent, that you might inherit the kingdom at hand.

We, as believers, will not share exclusively in Kingdom glory without the suffering through our own persecutions the power of His Name brings to bear on our lives. Are we truly willing to die for our faith? Are we committed to abiding in Him, that we might remain fruitful and spotless, reconciled to G-d without fear?

These and whatever such questions apply to your lives, begin to search yourselves and ask them, then repent of your sins.

The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Therefore I pray:

Lord Jesus,

Through the power of your blood I am blameless before the Father, yet here on the earth, the temptations come, and sometimes I yield in frustration. I have given in to feelings of anger, loneliness, and doubt, and tempted in the moment, I backslid.

Yet the Father still entreats me to return, and sends You to look for me as the father did his prodigal, and you embrace me, admonish me, and forgive me.

But help me to keep in mind that the Father is long suffering, but not eternally so. He is sending You again to purge the Kingdom of Heaven of all of His enemies, without remedy.

There will be no vestige of sin, no matter how secret, even if the size of a mustard seed, visible to His eyes. I thank You, Lord, for Your willingness to redeem me, for having the Father reveal You to me, for calling me out of the world to do His will to His glory, even as I honor You with the quality of my service.

Remind me that the ten-talent servant worked much harder than the one talent, who didn’t work at all, and was deemed unprofitable in his master’s eyes and cast out.

Strengthen me, and send the Holy Spirit to grant me discernment that the Kingdom of Heaven is near my hand, but I must set out and follow the signs to attain it, enduring to the end of my race, that I might be saved.

May Your words be sealed to my spirit, now and forever.

Amen.

Devotional 179: All Your Meaningless Days

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Ecclesiastes 9:7-10

7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Surely the Father did not give us a life with no meaning. What would be the purpose of it, and where is the glory in it for Him. Why bother redeeming the junk of a meaningless creation?

If our days appear meaningless and without purpose or direction, having no blessings to speak of, no fellowship, and isolation from family, it is because the covenant of the Tree of Knowledge was broken. The Father’s warning words were superseded, and dominion was passed to G-d’s prideful enemy. Adam, in not rebuking his mate and repenting before the Lord, visited the Father’s wrath on all of his descendants. Indeed, he joined her in the breaking, and blamed the Father for his own fault.

If we find no meaning in life, it is because we have also broken fellowship with Him, surrendering faith in eternal life to the transitory, temporary firmness of a creation doomed to eventual destruction, and perpetual renewal, putting their focus on men and women in their own fallen states.

As Jesus said, if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. (Matthew 15:4)

This is why studying is important, and finding a Word-centered church with Christ as its center from which everything else flows is essential. There are Christians around the world being persecuted and executed who’ve spent more time in G-d’s presence than some who’ve been attending church from childhood.

As servants of G-d, we should not be politically motivated, culturally isolated, compromising with a hostile world not seeking salvation, but rejecting Jesus’ testimony that its works are evil. (John 7:7)

The Father has plans for you (Jeremiah 29:11), promises He’s made to you that only He can keep (Numbers 23:19), works in You that He must bring to completion (Phillipians 1:6), gifts He imparted to You that You offer back to Him, that your works may stand the fires of judgment and purity (Romans 11:29), and most importantly, redeeming grace He imparted to you through the blood of His Son. (Hosea 2:23)

All that is comprised of your soul belongs to Him, and He will even redeem the vessel of dust that contains it. But understand He leaves it up to us to count the cost of sharing in His suffering (Luke 14:25-34), to be steadfast in our faith (Luke 7:9), to love one another (John 13:35), to be bold in our proclaiming His gospel (Luke 12:3), humble in our blessings (Matthew 6:3) and in our bearing (Matthew 23:12), and upright in our words and deeds (Psalm 101:2)

We have proven to Him, and ourselves, time and again that we are unable to achieve His plans for us in our own strength and will, for it always descends into pride and wickedness, and we have no righteousness in ourselves save through our faith in Christ, our only hope of redemption.

Though He remembers we are dust, we will be raised on the last day to spend eternity with our Savior in the light of the Father’s radiance, or to have our flesh punished in flames and the light of our souls snuffed out as if we’d never existed. Such is the way our G-d deals with evil, and our King vanquishes His enemies.

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven,

This land has set itself adrift from Your Word, and has abandoned the very thought of a moral compass.

This land is rudderless, having tongues of bitterness, scorn, and hatred for one another.

This nation honors You with its lips, but genuflects at the altar of money.

With hard hearts and deaf ears. we redefine You to fit that which we want to be true: You will forgive every kind of sin without repentance, and faith in the redemptive, atoning work of the Christ.

We fly flags of pride and hate, and worship the killing weapons we brandish, marking ourselves as ripe for whoever You may deem our modern Assyrians to invade us, for Your angels to exact the price for our multitudes of sin.

We hold others in low regard for words and deeds they spoke in the past that do not reflect our own worldviews, seeking their downfall instead of their salvation.

I would not be among those who find kin with mockers and scorners, Father. I will hold fast to my Savior though the injustices mount, the persecutions increase, or the Angel of Death comes in to deliver my soul and spirit into Your hands.

I pray that You strengthen me not to walk among them, or sit in their seats, or eat at their tables.

You came into my life, and now take the humble place, waiting for me to place You higher. Come now, Lord, that I might see You, and ask for redemption through the power of Your majesty, and the Son of Your love.

Heal our land.

Touch the hearts of our leaders, and set guards over their mouths and hearts as Your Holy Spirit convicts them of their sins. Let them be led to true and godly repentance that cleaves the heart, then forgive them, Father, and establish the works of their hands, that we might be restored rejoicing in Your mercy and grace in the land of the living.

In righteousness, peace, and joy may we honor You.

Amen.

Devotional 96: Take Possession

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Deuteronomy 1:8

8 See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.’

They had the Father’s promise they would be delivered and be given good land, and after all He’d performed to deliver them from Egypt in spectacular fashion, they took their eyes off Him, and turned them not only downward, but inward, and became as grasshoppers in their own eyes.

If we profess to be faithful to a G-d unseen, yet all powerful, how is it we limit ourselves? Why do we limit ourselves? Usually, a whole host of earthly reasons that have nothing to do with G-d not doing what He said. (Numbers 23:19)

19 “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

If deliverance and salvation were valuable enough that Jesus should come down to die for our sins that we might be raised to life, what is its value to us?

Grace is undeserved, Love is unconditional, but Salvation is going to cost. There has to be some effort on our part to attain that which we claim to believe.

Matthew 7:7

Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

And again:

Matthew 7:24

Build on the Rock

24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And once more: (Matthew 11)

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,and you will find rest for your souls.

We still have to go meet Him, though He’ll meet us where we are. We have to ask for Him to come in; He’ll not do so otherwise.

Revelation 3:20

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

When there are altar calls, or if someone is just crying in the dark at their worst hour, and their final moment of despair, there has to be some effort extended. He’s at the door now, but He won’t always be there.

Luke 22:37

37 For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.”

And though He was speaking here of the crucifixion, it is no less true for when He comes again. There is the day of G-d’s wrath, where He will deal with the unbelievers and the rebellious.

We must take possession of G-d’s promises, repeat His Word back to Him, for even He tells us it’s higher than His name, and His name is above all. Imagine G-d, holding His Bible over His head, then go back to when Moses was weary, and his officers lifted up His arms, or when the serpent staff was lifted, and the Israelites were healed.

When Christ was lifted up, we were all healed. Do we receive that? Do we believe it?

Go open the door, while He yet tarries.

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven, 

Today I take possession of all that is in Your hand for me,  Your good plans to give me a hope and a future through the atoning work of Your Son.

I take possession of my salvation, walking it out with reverent fear.

I confess to You that it was not always so, nor is it still. There are times when I’ve left the door closed, and stayed silent when the mocking began. I was a coward and a backslider, as Peter was among the Jews when Paul rebuked him. There are times, to my shame even now, when I am still those things.

I take possession then, of the covenant of grace, of the chance to repent, and receive Your gracious restoration when You look at me and ask if I love You, and You give me beauty for ashes, even as You dry my tears, renewing me in heart and spirit.

I take possession of the joy of Your love, the promise of eternal life, and deliverance from death and hell.

Anoint me again, Father, with the oil of righteousness, the balm of forgiveness, and the incense of praise that pleases You. 

I would confess my Christ boldly before men, that He may confess me to You,  so I may be saved. 

Let me remember that like the workers in the vineyards, Your will is sovereign, and I am rewarded for the work I complete, tested to see if it will stand. Help me to build it on spiritual rock, that it would not be toppled, or consumed by Your testing fires. Help me to seal it against he who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. 

I take possession today, not only of the promise of cross, but of the stone that was rolled away to reveal that my soul’s redemption was so valuable, You sent Your Son to receive it by faith in me. 

Let my life therefore reflect my faith in You.

Let it be done to me as You have said.

Amen.

 

Devotional 92: Grasshopper Eyes

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Numbers 13:30-33

30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

The Lord had promised them freedom from slavery, which He delivered in a spectacular fashion; they’d all witnessed the power and favor of Jehovah first hand, in ways that no other people of the earth had before, but just before claiming the promise, they replaced His vision with their own, their doubt for His assurance, and His good pleasure to deliver them into a land of no lack with a desert experience full of hardship and death.

They are not alone. Example after example is offered to us that when we are called to do the work of the Living G-d, we do not often give Isaiah’s reply, but rather that of Moses.

Exodus 4:10

10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

Or Gideon’s:

Judges 6:14-15 

14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

Or the army of Israel:

1 Samuel 17:8-11

8 Then (Goliath) stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

It is now no less fearful for us, whom the Savior has now called out of the world to finish the work of the Kingdom of Heaven, to do the will of the Father, which hasn’t changed, and to enter in to rest, rule, and reign with Him in the work of praising the Father forever, and dwelling in peace among ourselves.

Who wouldn’t want that? Who wouldn’t work for that? Who wouldn’t we tell about that, so they could come with us?

But we have an enemy, and our flesh doesn’t desire that which makes it uncomfortable, for as we have a Savior who has chosen us for Kingdom work, He paid a terrible cost, as did His disciples, even to this day. But the suffering had an end, and He now sits in inconceivable power and glory at the Father’s right hand.

We must go through one to get to the other, so our Teacher tells us to count the cost, deny ourselves, die to ourselves, take up a daily cross, and follow Him down the Narrow Way.

Our Savior reassures us: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” (John 14:1)

So too, did G-d reassure His servants, telling them He would fill their mouths, be with them, instruct them, guide them, and answer them. The phrase, as it pertains to actual fear, and not the reverence of the Lord, occurs 103 times.

G-d knows what He created, and well does he know our hearts, spirits, and minds. How could it not be so, if the hairs on our heads are numbered, and the length of our days set from the beginning.

If, as the Word says, we are wilting flowers, withering grass, vapors, breaths, fleeting, and our spirits not reconciled to G-d, we are better off trusting and accepting that which God will do through us by faith.

We are marked men and women, and the call is irrevocable. It is we who turn back, run away, and hide from it in our frailty.

G-d would have it that you answer the call, and enter into His rest through faith in the atoning work of His Son, who tells us there is already space:

2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)

A house that contains mansions…. the G-d we serve, and love, and worship, is bigger than that.

Don’t make yourself small in His sight.

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven, 

I confess today, I have not always stepped forward with Isaiah’s desire to be sent to do Your will. My response has been one of fearful doubt, or I pretend not to hear, and go blithely on until I reach the dead end, crouch down at the end of the alley, and wait for darkness to hide me from Your sight. I hope the whole time it isn’t true that You see at midnight as You do at noonday, though I know it is.

Create in me a renewed heart of flesh, and not stone. Make my spirit right, make it as fertile soil where Your word takes root. Give me ears to hear, and in hearing, a will and heart to understand. 

I would not be tossed into the sea as Jonah, or given over to my enemies like Sampson, or give another my glory like Barack.

Replace my quavering spirit with Yours, my fast-beating, fearful heart with Yours, my hating, angry emotions with Your peace, my compromising with Your steadfastness, my backsliding with Your resolve to drink from the cup.

I lay my life down to You today, right now, as an imperfect fleece, dry and knotted, full of spots and stains and blemishes, and I say to You today, right now, water it with the dew of Heaven, and purify it for Your glory, and to Your purposes. 

I would like to say that on the peak of this mountain, where You see a mighty warrior imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit, I will not have to ask again, but I know I will.

And the beauty of knowing You is that You know it too, and will answer when I call.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

May it be done to me as You have said.

Amen.