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Look Up!



In my last post, I wrote about praying for daily bread in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic.  You would think that such a crisis would drive me to pray more.  Yet, I’ve been wondering if I really have become more prayerful?  I’m starting to wonder if:

  • I’m using words but I don’t really have an awareness of what I am saying;
  • I’m saying the same things over and over again;
  • I’m using way too many words.
 Is it possible that my words have actually made me less prayerful?  And yes, I do realize how counter intuitive that sounds!

As I was reading through the Psalms, a verse did catch my attention and it even seemed to provide some clarity for me:

“My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”  (Ps 5:3)

No, I didn’t read into it that my words need to fly off my lips just in the morning!  Nor did I assume that I should adopt a new posture of prayer that includes looking up to the heavens!

What did catch my attention is the word direct.  The verse points to a direction (focusing my attention on God).  But it also seems to suggest, for me at least, that I might need to be more direct in my words, that is, I probably should be more concise and to the point.

What also caught my attention is that it appears that the Psalmist looked up after he directed His prayers to the Lord.  This looking up, from what I understand, has the connotation of waiting in anticipation.  I’m speculating here but I think once his prayers were over, the Psalmist simply stopped talking and looked up expectantly. 
  
Solomon wrote something interesting in Ecclesiastes that seems to support some of those thoughts:  “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.  Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.  God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”  (Ecc 5:1-2)

As an application to all this, perhaps I should share my heart with God without bombarding Him with lots of words.  Maybe I should also know when to quit talking and look up.  And then, as I wait expectantly, my ears should be attentive to what the Lord will say and my eyes should be looking for what He will do.

So in today’s vernacular, it probably looks like:  “speak up, shut up and look up”!


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