It’s good to leave the desert
and go where water is plentiful.
Perhaps it’s the quiet waters of the 23rd Psalm.
Psalm 23:2 (ERV)
He leads me by calm pools of water.
Might be a babbling brook, or even a rising flood. Either way, we are cleansed.
Psalm 51:2 (ERV)
Scrub away my guilt. Wash me clean from my sin.
This water is Christ’s gift to us.
John 4:14
The water I give people will be like a spring flowing inside them. It will bring them eternal life.
Let’s be honest. Sometimes our Christian walk takes us through the desert. Bible study is uninspired, prayer falls flat. Our souls are bone dry.
Jesus knows how it feels.
John 19:28 (NKJV)
Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”
Psalm 22:15
My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws.
There, in our dry spaces, we may have only enough strength to pray,
I thirst!
And it is enough. God hears.
We all love the mountaintop moments —
the times of victory and joy and praise,
when God has rescued us from danger
or given us the desires of our hearts.
Psalm 95:1-2
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
We don’t live on the mountaintop. We come down and step back into our daily routine.
Thank you, Lord, for this mountaintop moment. May it inspire and sustain me back in the valley.
Psalm 23:1-2 (CEB)
The Lord is my shepherd.
I lack nothing.
He lets me rest in grassy meadows.
The grassy pasture — a place of plenty, protection and peace.
My green-meadow prayers overflow with gratitude.
Thank you, Lord, for this delightful, safe place. Thank you for food and shelter. Thank you for peace and quiet, the opportunity to think, rest and restore my soul. You are so good to me!
Geography and prayer?
How does that work?
Think of specific places:
Whenever, wherever . . . God is listening.
Psalm 139:8-10 (TLB)
If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there. If I ride the morning winds to the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me.
Our prayers fit the time and place:
Hippolytus of Rome was one of the most prolific writers of the early Church.
His legacy of words reaches to our own time.
Because of Christ’s death and resurrection (as Hippolytus points out),
we are friends with God.
Bernard of Clairvaux was part hermit, part zealous reformer.
But he’s most remembered for his eloquent writing. This prayer
puts deep truth into simple words.
This is the beginning of Holy Week. Each day, I’ll share an Easter prayer written by a wiser (and much older!) mind than mine.
We’ll start with Edward Bouverie Pusey, an Anglican clergyman and professor of Hebrew.
