By Christine Drews.
A couple of weeks ago, my pastor presented a message on running to God instead of away from him. God’s timing is impeccable. The next morning, after a very nice weekend, I goofed relationally, and it wasn’t small. It was a continuation of a terrible pattern. Since I had clearly been sent a message during the sermon, I thought, “I will run to God.”
Several years ago, I thought I would start kneeling to pray, but because I have bad knees, I switched to sitting on a stool to pray. It’s not like I do this often—maybe once every couple of weeks when I want to really pour my heart out. Let me just say that you don’t need a stool, and you don’t need to kneel. It’s just something I started doing because I like the symbolism of being humble before the Lord.
Here’s how badly Satan doesn’t want us to talk with Jesus: I left my work station to go to my room and pray, but I couldn’t find my stool. I looked in almost every room and on every level of the house. I went up and down the stairs repeatedly. By this time, my throat was choked with emotion because I thought the world as I knew it was ending, but I still hadn’t prayed. I continued to search around the house for the stool, as if I couldn’t talk to God without it.
I found the stool outdoors on my potting table. Right where you’d expect it to be, right?
I dusted it off and carried it to my room. I sat. I started to plead with God to change my heart. I stretched my arms across my bed. This exacerbated a muscle pull in my back. Ouch! This wasn’t going so well! So far I had said maybe one complete sentence to God.
Why do we have such trouble going to God when we’ve done wrong? And why doesn’t Satan want us to go to God with it? Oh, dear ones, the devil knows how much a conversation with our heavenly Father can heal us, and Satan prefers our destruction.
The devil is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44) who is “looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), and he accomplishes this through trickery and “schemes” (Ephesians 6:11).
The devil does everything in his power to keep us from talking with God. I had said words I shouldn’t have said, and Satan didn’t want me to seek forgiveness or healing. He wanted me to stay in that miserable “where’s my stool because my world is ending” state. Satan likes it when we are miserable.
It’s at times like these that we need to get an attitude against the devil and stand strong against him. Persevere! Find the stool! Do everything you can to talk with God! Because when we do, we find forgiveness and healing.
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
I found my stool. I cried out a couple of sentences. My world didn’t end. I was given forgiveness from God and from the person I had offended.
What mess-up do you need to release to God? Be brave to get beyond the devil’s schemes. He wants you to remain in misery. In loving contrast, Jesus opens his hand and offers mercy and forgiveness, no matter how big the mess-up.
Chris loves spending time in God’s Word and noticing God’s hand at work. She telecommutes as a senior developmental editor for a small publishing house. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, bicycling, sports spectating, and influencing the children in her life. This is the fifth post in a series about Growing in Trusting God. The first post is here.
Check out Chris’ website Digging Deeper with God at www.diggingdeeperwithgod.com for more devotions like this one.
Thanks for sharing this, Chris. I really like, “find the stool!” I’ve been telling myself that this week when I find myself forgetting to pray. It reminds me to come to God with my problems. Thank you!