HAVERGAL'S PRAYER

A denominational hymnal is a valuable companion to the Bible when we spend personal, quiet time devotionally in the presence of God.  The Salvation Army Songbook  (SASB) is my source of inspiration and enlightenment conveying a theology of the heart and the infinite love of God for even me. 

Most recently I’ve been noticing a particular poet and hymn writer, Frances Ridley Havergal (14 December 1836 – 3 June 1879).  She is best known for her hymn, Take My Life and Let it Be.  I keep bumping into her in my songbook.  This morning I encountered her again and I began thanking God for his love for her, and his Spirit in her that occasioned her inspired gifts of poetry and song over 150 years ago.  Her works remain an important part of our heritage today. Praise God!

Here in a lovely poem/song, we find her prayer. In it she speaks to the progress of our walk through life with God.  I imagine that it expresses a witness of her life’s journey as well.

Lord speak to me, that I may speak in living echoes of thy tone;

As thou hast sought, so let me seek thy erring children lost and lone.

O lead me Lord, that I may lead the wandering and the wavering feet;

O feed me, Lord, that I may feed thy hungering ones with manna sweet.

O strengthen me, that while I stand firm on the rock, and strong in thee,

I may stretch out a loving hand to wrestlers in a troubled sea.

O teach me, Lord, that I may teach thy the precious things thou dost impart;

And wing my words that they may reach the hidden depths of many a heart.

O give thine own sweet rest to me, that I may speak with soothing power

A word in season as from thee to weary ones in needful hour.

O fill me with thy fullness, Lord, until my very heart o’erflow

In kindling thought and glowing word, Thy love to tell, thy praise to show.

O use me, Lord, use even me, just as thou wilt and when and where,

Until thy blessed face I see, Thy rest, thy joy, thy glory share.

SASB#612  -  Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879)

Notice her progression from verse to verse:  speak, lead, feed,

strengthen, teach, give rest, give a word, fill with thy fullness, use me.  In beautiful words, Havergal covers the full continuum of God’s grace and provision. With the last two verses the prayer culminates in holiness and sanctified service and reminds us that wherever we are in the journey, there’s more!  Thanks be to God!

WHAT TO DO ABOUT HUMANITY’S HORRID CONDITION

Are you like me, disturbed by the overwhelmingly horrid conditions of humanity and a seeming inability and collective unwillingness to do something about it?  By horrid conditions I mean the gross economic injustice and organized crime masquerading as democratic governments.  I mean the rape, murder, oppression, and genocide of whole populations by despots and war Lords.  I mean the violent, vicious dehumanization of vulnerable peoples in the contexts of civil war in places of the global south.  I mean the insidious, toxic global profit of drug cartels, arms dealers, and global human sex trafficking with the participation of every day citizens as consumers of drugs, guns, and sex.  I mean the self-serving demonization of people in the political opposition.  I also mean the benign neglect and callous indifference of most of the world who look the other way and pretend that they don’t see the sin that daily washes over the world.

I don’t mean to diminish the global humanitarian concern and compassion we see in organizations like The Salvation Army, Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision and others who reflect largely a Christian response.  They bring hope and healing to millions.  But the magnitude of sin in the world far outstrips the relatively small measure of compassion offered in Jesus name.  This is the case in part because the response of more than two billion people in the world, who self-identify as Christians, is either to do nothing or to respond with token charity.  In this country it is seen as enough to drop a donation into a Salvation Army kettle at Christmas or send World Vision a twenty-five dollar gift as long as one receives a charitable tax benefit.  While such collective efforts adds up and makes possible organized acts of compassion, is it really enough to counter the long established sin-based roots of the world’s suffering?  Clearly not!

Where does one even begin?  There is only one answer.  The world cries for a complete about face, a radical change in direction, a global movement of repentance and forgiveness.  Until there is a worldwide acknowledgement of sins of commission and omission, there will be no solution to the world’s greatest problems.  The world’s daily papers, evening news, talk radio programs, and internet communications give testimony to the disobedience and willful sin that characterizes humanity’s existence.  

2 Chronicles 2:14

The answer is global revival, repentance, redemption, and restoration.  The world needs a complete washing away of sin and a complete 180 degree turn to Christ.  Only the love of Christ can restore the world to a place of loving kindness, mercy, and justice. That may not occur until Christ comes again, but in the mean time the first response of all sincere followers of Christ must be prayer.  All revivals in history began with prayer.  Prayer is our first response.  Prayer seeks God’s intervention, guidance and wisdom.  In prayer we seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.  We plead for the Holy Spirit to come into the world.  We petition God to occasion a great salvation, and to give us a love in the likeness of his love for the world.  Where does it begin.  I see now that it begins with me.

Here I am, Lord.  It is I Lord?  I have heard You calling in the night.

I will pray, Lord.  You will hear me.  I will hold your people in my heart.*

*Words adapted from J. Gowans and J. Larson’s “Here am I Lord.” SASB 482

LOVE MY ENEMIES? SERIOUSLY?

You have heard it said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.  John 5:43 & 44

The good news of the gospel is sometimes hard news with hard directives.  In the worst scenarios of human conflict, the gospel is the only truth that makes sense.  Christ calls us to love rather than loath our enemies.  Seriously!

One of the worst situations today is the Hamas-Israeli war in Gaza.  The provocations of Hamas rockets launched into Israel and the massive Israeli response of bombardment occasions several tragic outcomes: 1) the enormously imbalanced scale of violence and death (Israel:56; Gaza: 1,400+ including children*); 2) the inability to achieve  a substantial cease fire, never mind a lasting peace;  3) the loss of Israel's moral credibility in the world; 4) the unbending, strengthened resolve, by all Islamic nations in Africa and the Middle East, to achieve the complete destruction of Israel.

When my children (now in their thirties) were little, I remember one of their spats that became physical.  They hurt each other.  When I asked who started it, my daughter said, “He hit me back first!”  There was no way to discern the origins of their mutual hostilities at that moment.  It did no good to force them to say to each other “I’m sorry!”  In the first place, they didn’t really mean it.  It wasn’t in their hearts to articulate sorrow for hitting each other.  Secondly, if they did regret their contribution to the hostility, regret gives no guarantee that they would act lovingly toward one another in the future.  Thirdly, even in the context of regret, it is not the same as repentance.  Repentance is sorely needed.

Repentance is sorely needed in the Palestine-Israel conflict by both sides.  But what is repentance?  It is making a 180 degree turn and walking in the other direction.  It is a massive change of behavior because of a change of heart. We know something about repentance when we ask God for forgiveness of sins and walk with Christ in the direction he is walking, in holiness and righteousness.

Four things are needed if Palestinian-Israeli peace is to be reached:  1) The Palestinians need to get rid of Hamas; 2) the peace talks must be pursued to a successful conclusion; 3) A two-state solution (a homeland for Palestine and one for Israel) must be put in place and supported by all nations. This can only happen if Israel stops building more settlements; and 4) the entire Christian world must bring all of this before God in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to do what no military or political intervention alone will accomplish.  Finally, both sides need to repent.  Only the intervention of God can redeem the deep, horrible sin at the center of the conflict and bring new life for all.

Now, unto Him who is able to do immeasurably 

more than we ask or imagine . . . glory!

Ephesians 3:21 & 21

*undocumented statistic - source: The Economist, Aug. 2014