Tuesday, March 5, 2024

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READ: Proverbs 15

The Lord is far from the wicked,
but he hears the prayer of the righteous. Proverbs 15:29 (CSB)

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I feel sad for people who live in places without snow. In fact, I feel sorry for people who live in places that only get a bit of snow each winter. I love snow. I love the whiteness of it; and the cleanliness of fresh drifts.

Where I grew up on the banks of the Red River, we often had a lot of snow. But even during years when we had less snowfall, there was usually loads to find in drifts along the river. The river had steep muddy banks and on top of them grew tall prairie grass. This grass could grow much taller than me as a kid and probably taller than me as an adult. I can only imagine how spectacular the countryside must have been when the grass grew like that everywhere; that is before the prairies were broken for farmland.

That grass caught snow and I loved going along the banks and falling backwards into the snow-filled grass and allowing it to cocoon around me. I would have been sledding or snowmobiling – high energy and usually loud activities. But when I lay in the snow caught by the grass the noise of the world stilled.

Even on cold nights, you could lie there for quite a while because the snow was a good insulator.

This image is how I think about prayer.

For far too long, I thought about prayer as my way to God – like a rainbow road with a treasure at the end – now I realize it is my being with God. How can there be a “way” to get into His presence when His presence is all around us?

For far too long, I thought of prayer as the place where I told God what I needed (or wanted) and told Him what He wanted (praise). But now I see prayer as closeness, not much more. Closeness is far more powerful than you could ever imagine. That’s why every newborn these days is photographed skin-to-skin with the parents shortly after birth. Closeness creates connection. Connection creates attachment. Attachments foster strong and healthy relationships.

The wicked do not enjoy this connectiveness. God is far from them. And the reason the righteous know that God hears their prayers is that prayer is closeness with Him.

Think about the place where you feel the safest, the warmest, the most comfortable. Is it under that feather duvet? Or in the arms of a close friend and partner? Or underwater at the bottom of a pool or on the sand floor of the ocean?

What is your picture of proximately to God? That is your picture of prayer.