Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name. They called upon the Lord, and He answered them. . . . You answered them, O Lord our God.”
Psalm 99:6, 8a
When I read this, these words seemed to leap off the page at me. God answered them! And they were people just like us! This means that God is a God who can be called upon! Oh, the thought of it! What a great and wonderful thing!
James encouraged the saints to consider this wonderful truth about our God when he wrote this: “When the prayer of a righteous man is at work, it has great power and is effective. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And again, he prayed, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
Do you need a job? Do you need a friend? Do you need healing? Do you need wisdom from God? Call upon the Lord, “for He cares for you.” Jesus said that we do not need to talk a lot when we talk to God, pointing out that some people think that they would gain a hearing with God because they throw a lot of words up at Him (Mt. 6:7). Then he said, “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you have need of before you ask Him.” And He will answer! He is listening. He cares. He knows. And He will be your friend. He will even answer the prayer you don’t know how to pray. He will even help you pray it!
“For we do not know what to pray for as one should, but the Spirit itself intercedes for us with groanings beyond words. And he who searches the hearts knows what the Spirit means, for it makes intercession for saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26–27).
Moses, Aaron, Samuel, and many others believed God was listening and that he cared, and that He was more than able to take care of them. The result? They prayed. And because they believed God and trusted in Him, He answered them. Everything in the Bible consistently proclaims that those righteous people were people just like us, and that God is the same to all generations.
That understanding, that feeling of joy and faith, is really what leaped off the page at me today. I believe I was being invited to ask, to seek, and to knock, and that I was being given a promise that God would answer me, too!