I love Sunday mornings. It doesn’t matter how farfy or crabby or apathetic I am, by the time the music is even halfway finished at our island church, I am all in. This Sunday was no exception, though I admit, about 4/5s of the way through the sermon, Pastor John stepped on my toes. I wasn’t happy. I mean, who wants to have their beautiful, praising God worship attitude dampened by the pastor saying something that cuts to the quick? John was preaching about Psalm 100. I have that chapter memorized, I know it, I like it a lot – so what could he possibly have said to offend me? It’s all right there in verse three: Know that the Lord is God.
On the surface, that shouldn’t be troublesome. I know that God is God, that’s what I was just singing about. No problem. Except, John pointed out that in his mind, that word know means something deep. Deeper than knowing my multiplication facts. It means to be so aware that He is God that you are willing to submit your own will to his. Then came the sentence that really got me: John says that if you are truly submitting to God, then “prayer isn’t time to give God instructions.” Ouch. My toes are flat and my heart is bruised. Yes, I struggle with being a control freak, and whether I want to admit it our not, my prayers can easily turn into a to do list for the Almighty. Yikes. In light of his wise and (painful) teaching, I am approaching this Thanksgiving and Christmas season with a new and, I hope, improved attitude along with a few major modifications to how I pray: a little more thanks and substantially less bossiness. And by the way, Pastor John, thanks!
