Our church building may be closed, but God’s eyes are open and his ears are attentive to our prayers (2 Chronicles 7.15).
Welcome back to the daily proverb!
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Opening
Speak these words out loud:
This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One, says:
‘In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength.’
from Isaiah 30.15
Today’s Proverb
Read the proverb through three or four times, slowly. Pause in-between, maybe write it out by hand – savour the words, let them speak deeply to you.
Whoever fears the Lord walks uprightly, but those who despise him are devious in their ways. (NIV)
Be honest and you show that you have reverence for the Lord; be dishonest and you show that you do not. (GNB)
Proverbs 14.2
What does it mean to ‘fear’ the Lord? You may know the verse: ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ (Proverbs 9.10, see also 1.7, 15.33, Job 28.28, Psalm 111.10 & Micah 6.9). But then one of the most common phrases in the Bible is, ‘Do not be afraid’ (occurring over 80 times). What’s going on?
Let’s think about who God is for a moment. Genesis 1.16 says, ‘He also made the stars’ – a rough calculation suggests there are something like 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1024) of them. God is so cosmically powerful we can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to imagine seeing a tiny fraction of his majesty.
Not only did he create everything, he sustains it too – his presence is everywhere and everywhen. He is so powerful he can turn even darkness into light, even death into life. He sees through all our pretences, all our bluffs, all our pathetic deviousness (as if we could fool God!) – he sees us for who we truly are. And, seeing us like that, he loves us still.
Given all his power and might and majesty, God could be terrifying. But he isn’t. We need to have a proper reverence for him – we should take seriously what we say and sing to and about him – but if we belong to his family, we don’t need to be afraid of him.
CS Lewis put it like this:
‘Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.’
‘Ooh’ said Susan. ‘I’d thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.’
‘Safe?’ said Mr Beaver, ‘Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.’
from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Prayers
Pray for Five – pray for your five friends / family from Thy Kingdom Come.
Our daily prayer sheet includes the names of everyone for whom we have a signed church family directory form – and local parishes and senior church leaders. Today we are praying for:
Ben & Jess Green, Lesley Willers
Father, please bless them with your peace, and a deep awareness of your presence with them, every day and in every way.
Please pray for our leaders and healthcare workers, and all those working to keep us safe, well, and fed. Please pray that people would unselfishly put others before themselves, and buy only what they need.
Church Family Prayer
Come Holy Spirit,
and make us one in heart and action,
so that we can serve God faithfully:
abounding in love,
maturing in holiness,
and seeking out the lost.
Help us grow as disciples of Jesus –
in commitment, in depth, and in number –
that we may be a blessing to Amington;
to the glory and praise of God the Father.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
Closing Prayer
Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labour in vain.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus
the only way to the Father.
Psalm 127.1, Hebrews 12.2 & John 14.6
May Christ our Saviour give us peace.
Amen.