Prayerfulness and Pride...

 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD.—1 Samuel 8:6

16 As for me, I will call upon God,

And the LORD shall save me.

17 Evening and morning and at noon

I will pray, and cry aloud,

And He shall hear my voice.

18 He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me,—Psalm 55:16-18

The message for me as I read through my daily Bible this morning was so simple.  

As for me, I will call upon God,

The bigger question is why after some 30 years of walking with the Lord is it still so hard?  I mean He literally bids us (me) to come. He never gets tired of hearing from us, nor does He blame us for coming too often...in fact, as Matthew Henry has said...the oftener the more welcome. Why is it then that it is still such a battle?  One word...pride.  

Beloved, the God who spoke the world into existence...the One that is all knowing, all powerful and everywhere present...desires us!  Pride is just not rational!  Instead of readily bringing our problems and concerns to Him as we go about our day, we reject His counsel and His rule and forfeit His blessings by going our own way.  We, in effect, doom ourselves to be counseled and ruled by what someone has aptly named, the trinity of stupidity...me, myself and I. 

Praying today that I would heed His Spirit’s gentle reminders and promptings that bid me to “come”.  For then and only then will my soul be satisfied and my heart rejoice.  Only then will I go about my day with joy and be led about in peace.

Father...

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You,

And I will look up.  Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud,

And You shall hear my voice.  You have redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me.