Word of Encouragement (03/16/2023)
And this he said of Judah: "Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him in to his people. With your hands contend for him, and be a help against his adversaries." (Deut. 33:7)
Even though this benediction seems to have its specific focus on Judah being brought in to his people and the LORD contending for him, let us observe that it is at the most basic level about prayer: “Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah....”
The blessing of prayer is one of the greatest blessings: it’s a blessing that keeps on blessing, like being taught how to catch fish instead of just being given a fish. If we can pray, if we know how to pray, there is no limit to what we can receive from our infinite and eternal God and our loving heavenly Father. So, Spurgeon said, “To pray is to enter the treasure-house of God and to gather riches out of an inexhaustible storehouse.” To have the blessing of prayer is to have God.
Do you need me to convince you further what a marvelous and magnificent blessing this is? Whatever your reason for not praying is, does it measure up to all the benefits of prayer? Even if you came up with a hundred reasons, would they be sufficient to justify skipping a day of praying for yourself and all those that depend on your intercession to God, who will never forget what you asked of Him and answer them all according to His wisdom and bounty? Are you afraid of praying because God may not answer your prayers exactly according to your prescription but according to His perfect knowledge of what is good for you? How foolish!
Let us not forget that we are talking about a benediction/blessing here. It may not seem so. Anybody can open his mouth and pray, can’t he? When desperate, even non-religious people cry out for help from God! But it is one thing to pray; it is another to have one’s prayer heard. Moses’ benediction was, “Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah....”
How can we have our voice heard by the LORD? By hearing, we are not talking about God’s ears simply registering the sound we make with our lips; we are talking about God responding to our petitions. Why should God listen to our prayers? “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him” (Ps. 8:3-4)? Not only are we small but we are also sinful: “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isa. 59:1-2). For us to have the blessing of prayer, then, we needed the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to remove the problem of our sin.
Now, neglecting the blessing of prayer becomes so much worse, doesn’t it? We are neglecting what Jesus earned for us through His costly sacrifice. If He sacrificed so much for this blessing, we can imagine how valuable it must be. Brothers and sisters, let us renew our commitment to pray regularly, thankfully, and fervently!