And God Said...

Some of you know that last night we attended a Labyrinth Prayer service. Before we walked through the prayer labyrinth they had a small service on prayer. One of the speakers referenced a prayer from the Old Testament. A woman from their church who was in advanced stages of Lou Gehrig’s Disease who couldn’t talk any more requested that someone pray this prayer for her.

The prayer comes from Habakkuk 3: 17-18.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The speaker went on to talk about the importance of a prayer life that goes beyond just taking request to God and asking God to help us with our problems. Our prayers should focus on the full Glory of God. It was humbling to think about. I am a “God help me with this” kind of prayer person. And then I hear this story of a woman whose life is being destroyed by this disease and instead of asking for healing or relief, she prays this beautiful passage that says no matter how bad things get, I will rejoice in you and find joy in you alone God.

As far as walking the labyrinth, I found it amazing. I had thought of all of these things I was going pray for, but they recommended you don’t go into this prayer labyrinth with things to pray about. They gave us some verses that we could read before or during the walk and they said we should just let this connection between us and God grow. When you got to the middle circle of the labyrinth you were supposed to just focus on receiving a word from God.

I know this type of prayer service may sound odd, but it was wonderful. I would recommend a labyrinth walk to anyone. The Woodlands United Methodist Church is going to have their labyrinth set up all next week. You have to contact them ahead of time to set up a time to come use it. If you are interested I would be glad to get the information for you.

Some will ask, “Well did you hear from God?” Yes! And he spoke the most beautiful and comforting words. They were the exact words I needed to hear.

Today I decided to look up those verses in Habakkuk and then decided to read the book. It is only 3 chapters. It starts out with a complaint from Habakkuk and then there is an answer from God. Then there is another complaint and another answer from God. The 3rd chapter is a prayer that he sung. Here are two of the verses that I really liked from the book.

The first one comes from God’s response to Habakkuk complaining about the evil in the world. The second verse is the beginning of the song that Habakkuk sings to God.

“For the time will come when all the earth will be filled, as the waters fill the sea, with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.” Habakkuk 2:14

“I have heard all about you, Lord, and I am filled with awe by the amazing things you have done.” Habakkuk 3:2