In today's first reading, Acts 16: 22-34, Paul and Silas are attacked, beaten with rods and thrown into prison. It would seem as though all is lost, that there is no escape, as their feet are chained to the floor in one of the most secure cells of the prison. In the middle of the night, a sudden earthquake opens all of the prison doors. They are free to escape but do not. The prison guard panics and is about to kill himself when Paul and Silas intervene. What follows is the conversion of the guard and his entire family.
The guard panics. Paul and Silas remain calm; their relationship to the Lord is unshakable. You and I have at times remained calm in the midst of a crisis while others have panicked and vice versa. Panic blocks our awareness of God's presence and His power. It is important to realize that if I seek God on a daily basis, I am more likely to seek God in crisis situations. When I am having a difficult time, my first thought is to call upon my best friend. So, too, if I have chosen Jesus as my closest friend and developed an intimate relationship with Him. I will automatically think of Jesus and call upon Him in both the good and bad times of life.
When, in a crisis, the Rock to which I cling is Christ Jesus, I will be as strong as that Rock. I will not be shaken even if every one around me has entered the crisis mode. To whom do you cling?
Showing posts with label Rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rock. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
An Awesome God
In today's first reading, Ex 17: 37, the Israelites are out in the desert and have no water. They complain to Moses: "Why did you take us out of Egypt to die out here in the desert. We have no water." Moses intercedes for them and is told to take his staff, the one he stretched out over the Red Sea, and strike the rock. Water will flow.
What an awesome, caring, loving God. In my prayer, I said to the Lord: Lord, I thirst and You bring forth water from the rock, from the most unlikely places in my life. The soil of my heart is not just hard. Sometimes it seems as though it has turned into a rock. You instruct Moses, and you instruct me, to take the staff that Moses stretched over the Red Sea (for us Christians, that was stretched out on the cross on Calvary), saving the people from the pursuit of the Egyptians (for us, the pursuit of Satan) and touch the rock/Rock. 'I am there,' you instruct Moses, 'standing ...in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will flow from it...' You tell me that I will not die but live from the water of grace that flows at my bidding. "Know", You say to me, "that I am always 'standing in front of you on the rock' of your faith. I always know where you will find water as you wander in the desert of your life.Ask me and your thirst will be quenched with Living Water flowing from my side."
"Lord," I said, "I'm thinking of those hauled off to be part of slave labor camps/factories, sex brothels and hotels where young girls have been transported to be used by human traffickers, sexual predators, and/or pimps to increase their bank accounts. Why, in the words of today's first reading, did you ever allow young girls to be taken from "Egypt"? Hear their anguished cries. Listen to their night sobbings, their agony at being deceived into thinking that they were being rescued from their poverty and taken to a better place, a "land flowing with milk and honey," to the "Promised Land," where they could make enough money to help out their families back home from dying of starvation or wallowing in desperate poverty. Lord, send a "Moses" to save them, I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen."
What an awesome, caring, loving God. In my prayer, I said to the Lord: Lord, I thirst and You bring forth water from the rock, from the most unlikely places in my life. The soil of my heart is not just hard. Sometimes it seems as though it has turned into a rock. You instruct Moses, and you instruct me, to take the staff that Moses stretched over the Red Sea (for us Christians, that was stretched out on the cross on Calvary), saving the people from the pursuit of the Egyptians (for us, the pursuit of Satan) and touch the rock/Rock. 'I am there,' you instruct Moses, 'standing ...in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will flow from it...' You tell me that I will not die but live from the water of grace that flows at my bidding. "Know", You say to me, "that I am always 'standing in front of you on the rock' of your faith. I always know where you will find water as you wander in the desert of your life.Ask me and your thirst will be quenched with Living Water flowing from my side."
"Lord," I said, "I'm thinking of those hauled off to be part of slave labor camps/factories, sex brothels and hotels where young girls have been transported to be used by human traffickers, sexual predators, and/or pimps to increase their bank accounts. Why, in the words of today's first reading, did you ever allow young girls to be taken from "Egypt"? Hear their anguished cries. Listen to their night sobbings, their agony at being deceived into thinking that they were being rescued from their poverty and taken to a better place, a "land flowing with milk and honey," to the "Promised Land," where they could make enough money to help out their families back home from dying of starvation or wallowing in desperate poverty. Lord, send a "Moses" to save them, I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen."
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