Women who faithfully pray still get sick. Life still disappoints. Children cause grief, husbands lose jobs or much worse, lose interest in marriage.
Yet these women still pray.
By praying, they know, “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9).
My friend had a need I could not meet. I told another friend and he provided for her need.
Jesus told us that prayer is like that. “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit and I have nothing for him to eat . . . if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence (Luke 11:5-8).'”
Pray because “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).”
Pray because “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).”
They say dehydration is the #1 cause of illness for Israel’s tourists. The temperature hovered around 110 degrees while we were there, so we understood the need for water.
Long ago the psalmist wrote, “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul pants for you, O God (Psalm 42:1).”
Hot, tired and thirsty souls earnestly desire communion with God through prayer.
Picture courtesy of artist Dr. John E. Weise.
We got into the boat and sailed across the Sea of Galilee. There was no storm. The sea was calm.
But we spoke of the great storm that made the disciples afraid. We remembered that Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm (from Matthew 8:23-27).
I’ve always liked that story. Jesus still calms any storm. Cry out to him. He hears.
He stood on Mount Arbel, overlooking Galilee, remembering that Jesus, when he lived here, “went up on the mountain by himself to pray (Matthew 14:23).”
And standing there, he prayed, because Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full (John 16:24).”
There were children at the Wailing Wall, being trained by their elders.
May we who know Jesus as Messiah teach “the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders he has done (Psalm 78:4)” by praying for and with our children.
When King Solomon dedicated the temple he prayed, “When a foreigner comes from a far country, for your name’s sake . . . and prays toward this house, hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you (1 Kings 8:41-43).”
People who know of Solomon’s prayer come from all over come to pray at the Wailing Wall; some tuck their prayers into the wall. God sees them. He hears.
But as we left the Wailing Wall, I felt grateful that God answers prayers no matter where we are. You don’t have to travel to Jerusalem to pray.
