October 9, 2017

Psalm 31:5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.

If this verse sounds familiar it could be that you are remembering Luke 23:46 where from the cross “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last.” In the times when I was first learning about prayer (and I was young, much younger than I knew at the time) it was popular to stress that prayer could be very informal, that you could talk to God as a friend, just speak your mind. All that is true. But as I aged I started to experience life with times, more times than I would have anticipated, where I had no words to express what was going on with me. And then other times when I was more involved with hearing my own voice or thoughts than I was in reaching out to a God I could only begin to comprehend. I’ve learned that sometimes, maybe even often at this stage of my life, taking the words of scripture and making them my prayer really expresses my personal truth better than words I could create. It seems that Jesus may have done this from the cross according to Luke. If you are doing well with extemporaneous prayer- good for you. Keep at it. If you are looking for a different and perhaps deeper experience of prayer consider praying a passage of scripture. This week, which passage of scripture might become your prayer?