What to Do?

Late one afternoon my eye doctor dilated my pupils for a routine check-up, and everything looked blurry. For several hours after I returned home I could not cook, read, crochet, watch TV or enjoy my other usual activities. I wondered how I would spend the time.

Amid my frustration with this temporary inconvenience, I suddenly realised, ‘I can pray.’ Then I spent an evening praising God and interceding for family members, friends and my church fellowship.

Isn’t prayer what God has always desired from us? Consider Noah making a new beginning (Genesis 8:13-20), King Jehoshaphat facing a huge invading army (2 Chronicles 20:1-28), or the church at Jerusalem hearing of Peter’s imprisonment (Acts 12:1-17). Whatever we are facing, God calls us to pray.

Prayer: Gracious God, help us to turn to you in all circumstances. Thank you for the privilege of prayer. As Jesus taught us, we pray, ‘Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.’