Los Alamos Church of Christ
Drawing Closer
To God
The Place
Called Presence
Pondering
Prayer
On our metaphorical cruise to spiritual destinations, we are in the Place called Presence. Here, in the Place called Presence, we are learning what it means to live at God's House. "Hey where do you live?" "I live at God's House." Here is what have we learned so far:
- Living at God's House means we move in with all our stuff. We bring all of our concerns, all of our requests, all of our hopes and all of our fears to the Father who cares for us. Living at God's house means we offer Simple Prayers constantly to God. The goal is to be honest before the Lord.
1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
-Living at God's House also means we listen. All healthy relationships are give and take. All healthy relationships talk and listen. All healthy relationships honor the other by listening. We need to learn to be still before God and listen to his nudging. I like Psalm 37. Instead of fretting we are still and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 37:7-8
Be still before the LORD and wait
patiently for him; do not fret when
men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret-- it leads only to evil.
Anger, wrath and fretting leads only to evil. Living at God's House is not hesitating to bring all our stuff before God, but it is also respecting God, by keeping our mouths shut; listening. "Hey, Tim, where do you live?" "I'm working on living at God's House. I'm learning honesty and I'm learning to be still."
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This morning, as we continue to stay in the Place called presence, I want to bring to you to one of my favorite types of prayer. It happens at God's House. It is called Pondering Prayer.
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Pondering Prayer is talking to God about our questions. It is a combination of Simple Prayer and Listening Prayer. Pondering Prayer is wrestling with a difficulty in the presence of God. It is like sharing a problem with a friend. "Hey, I have been thinking about this and I was wondering what you thought?" Pondering Prayer brings struggles into God's House.
Notice a distinction; wondering is not the same as Pondering. When we wonder in the presence of God it becomes Pondering Prayer. What makes it Pondering Prayer and not just thinking, is that it done in the presence of God. It is intentionally asking God and then listening. We can think through issues and attempt to come to a decision on our own. Or, we can think through those same issues and try to come to a decision in communion with God. The latter is Pondering Prayer.
Fascinatingly enough, there are a lot of Psalms which are Pondering Prayers.
Psalm 14:1-7 Of David. The fool says in his heart, "There is no God". They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Will evildoers never learn-- those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the LORD? There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge. Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
David is pondering why there are so many evil people in the world and why God doesn't do something about it. When is God going to come out of Zion and take care of it? I certainly wonder the same thing. David is struggling in the presence of God. It is Simple Prayer: God do something. It is Listening Prayer; God when? It is Pondering Prayer because it is done in God's house.
Other Psalms do much the same with different questions.
Psalm 15:1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
Psalm
22:1 My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? Why are
you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my
groaning?
Psalm 38:1
O LORD, do not rebuke
me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.
We resonate with David as he struggles. "Why is the world like this? God why don't you do something? What is going on with this?" Don't you have some questions you would like God to answer? Pondering Prayer joins this tradition of the Psalms in struggling with God.
Living in God's House gives us the privilege of Pondering with God.
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There are a variety places which Pondering Prayer can take us. Pondering Prayer can be used for different kinds of questions.
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Pondering Prayer is great for making decisions. In the course of our lives, we hit points when we need to make important decisions. Those decisions may take us in a new direction. I advocate, when we are faced with big decisions to take them to God's House and ponder them before God.
We wrestle with the upsides and the downsides of our big decision at God's dinner table. We struggle with what we ought to do. Then, we are still, so we can listen. But also there is watching we need to do. There is a phrase in Acts 26 which I like.
Acts 26:14 "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads."
Paul was kicking against the goads. Paul was resisting where Jesus wanted him to go. Getting a cow or an ox to do you bidding often requires a goad; a pokey stick. God often goads us. In Pondering Prayer we can feel the goads. "Oh, I see that is why this way is hard. I need to go that way."
To change the metaphor, he opens doors and closes doors. As we ponder decisions in the presence of God we listen for God to point out where the goads are and where the doors are opening. In Pondering Prayer we can see God's direction. This is a wonderful benefit from living at God's House.
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Pondering Prayer is great for problem solving.
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This is where I use Pondering Prayer. Every week has a Sunday and every Sunday has a sermon. Every sermon needs to connect. I ponder how I am going to connect biblical concepts to you? So, I ponder… Bam, the next morning an idea is there. I struggle before God over how I can be creative in presenting this idea. Bam, an idea "pops" in my head. Whenever I ask, "How can we do that?"… I ponder. I use it every week to get ideas about how to share God's Word with you.
I suspect, but I don't know, but I suspect… tons of creative ideas all over our world are really God sharing his creativity with us. Humans are a creative lot, and I think I know where we get it. It wouldn't surprise me if most of beneficial discoveries of the human race were really God answering Pondering Prayer. I don't know that, but I suspect it.
Creative imagination becomes holy in the presence of God. Call it holy creativity.
Pondering Prayer is where we need to go for creative solutions to all the challenges we face! Isn’t that cool?
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Pondering Prayer can be used for healing.
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Humans are meaning-making machines. As soon as we experience something, we want to weave that experience into who we are. We are constantly asking, "What does that mean?" As we are writing our story, each adventure becomes a chapter in our lives and we want meaning. We want resolution. We are like TV sitcoms. We need to resolve every episode in a half hour and have it mean something.
While we are making meanings of our stories, we are often hurt. Someone says something and it hurts our feelings. Someone does something and it really hurts. Tragedies bring us to our knees and we ask, "Why?" We sort stuff out looking for explanations. That is just how we are wired. We replay the videos of our hurts over and over looking for why. We seek meaning in most every event.
What I would like to suggest is, if we have to replay our videos searching for meaning, do it in the presence of God. That changes the quality of the replay all together. Pondering our videos in the presence of God can be healing. We bring our confusion about, "Why?" to the dinner table and we listen for answers. God doesn't always answer with clear, "This is why that happened!" Typically, he says, "Trust me." But that is healing. When we Ponder and hear, "Trust me!" our faith rises to a new level. We have drawn closer to God and guess what? God draws closer to us.
Ponder Prayer is a way of examining our lives. We relive the events of our day before God and we ask the meaning. We may discover we were the ones who said the hateful thing. It may have been us who did the hurtful thing. In Pondering Prayer we may discover it is us who needs to apologize. But that too is healing.
Pondering the meaning of what has happened throughout our lives in Prayer can lead to powerful healing. "Hey, that's what I want." Isn't it great to be at God's House?
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One of the more subtle ways Pondering Prayer is helpful when God warns us.
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I have shared this story before in different settings, but it is a transformational event in my life which convinced me of God's warnings.
In 1992 or so, a big group of 25 or so of us were climbing Uncompahgre Peak on what we used to call Shake Down. I had a choice to make; the long trail or a short cut. The climbing book and friend encouraged me to take the short cut up a steep gully. I felt the warning not to go. But I didn't listen. Not long after a girl was hit with a rock. The rest of the story was amazing how God took care of her. But the point is God gives us warnings. Pondering Prayer is a way to hear and explore those warnings.
I rarely get these feelings of impending doom when my stomach hurts and I feel something is wrong. But I have learned to listen. I would advocate that you listen as well.
Learning to listen to the warnings is a powerful blessing of living at God's House.
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"Get practical, Tim. How do we do Pondering Prayer?" If I am suppose to use Pondering Prayer for reaching decisions, creative solutions, healing and warnings, how is all that done?"
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Try this. Visualize yourself at the table with God, asking Him your questions. Have faith that God is really there. Engage all of who you are.
First, use your mind. Place your logic on the table. "God here is how I see it. Here is my thinking on this problem. Ask, "Am I wrong?" Am I thinking clearly?
Second, engage your heart. We need also to move the discussion with God from our heads down to our hearts. Visualize moving the question down along the spine into our hearts and ask what feelings are there? Ask God, "Are my emotions in sync with You?" Listen to see if there are any clouds on your spirit? Is there any anger, wrath or fretting going on? Those lead only to… evil. Examine your emotions before God.
Also be aware of positive emotions. "Who am I loving? What is the compassionate solution?" Listen to your emotions. "What am I feeling? Why am I feeling that?" These encouraging emotions can move us to do God's will.
Third, plug in your Imagination. God has given us this wonderful thing called imagination. Take the lid off the top of the box. What is outside the box? Ask, "How can we do that in a way that has never been done before?" Open up your thinking to the possibilities of God!
Engage all of you as you Ponder in Prayer. Bring all of you to the table as you Ponder in the presence of God!
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"Wrap it up, Tim."
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In the Place called Presence we live at God's House. God is great! He listens to our Simple Prayers just like a grandpa listens to the ramblings of a two year old. Nothing is unimportant. Every word we speak in Simple Prayer is heard by our Father.
But it gets even better.
When we are still, our heavenly Father shares his love with us. As we listen, we hear His will. Being still before God is learning to hear his will in the silence.
But it gets even better.
In this Place called Presence we can bring our dilemmas before God. We set our struggles on his dining room table.
-In Pondering Prayer God helps us with the decisions of life; he shows us the goads and the open doors.
-In Pondering Prayer he works with our creativity to give us solutions.
-In Pondering Prayer there is healing as we lay our hurts on the table; both the ones we have received and those we have given. God heals.
-In Pondering Prayer we hear God say, "Be careful".
"Where do you live?" "I live in the wonderful Place called Presence at God's House."
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