In the Right Hands
Her slip of paper providentially found its way into the hands of a faithful prayer warrior. Her words were few and simple but loaded with angst and weariness: “I’m burned out. Not sure how much longer I can do this. Please pray for me.”
The prayer request had been submitted anonymously, but the prayer warrior wasn’t disheartened by that. She rested in the fact that the Lord knew exactly who had written those burdened words.
The prayer warrior held that paper in her hands as she sat alone with the Lord. She quieted her spirit and began to talk to her Father about this troubled girl. As always, she began with praise…
“God, You see all things and know all things. You’re the God Who delights to give rest – spiritual and physical. We find peace in You and strength in Your joy. You hear our cries, and You deliver us. You save us by the power of Your mighty right hand. Your strength is most evident when we’re at our weakest. You’re true to Your Name, and we can trust You.”
“There are moments – or days or entire seasons – when we believe we’re wise in our own eyes. We make plans in arrogance, falsely secure in our own next steps. We load our calendars until there’s hardly a postage stamp’s worth of white space left – even filling in the squares with good and right activities. But how often we fail to consult You about what needs to go into our schedules – and what wisely needs to be omitted. Then we find ourselves bone-tired and spent. We prioritize events and neglect the Sabbath-rest that You created our souls to need. We look up from our busyness and find ourselves near to the brink of exhaustion and far from the God of the Sabbath. Then as a last resort, we drag our limping souls to Your throne in search of mercy.”
“And mercy we find. Thank You. Thank You for giving my friend the courage to cry out for help in her dry season. Thank You for the promises in Your Word that minister to every need of her soul. Thank You for being the Father Who opens wide His arms with life-giving grace and hope. Thank You for letting me be one of those to help lift up her arms in the battle she’s facing. Thank You for the faith of this friend – weak and frail as it is – to trust that her Father hears and answers her prayers. That’s a gift she really needs today.”
“Now, Lord, I ask You to send the breeze of Your Holy Spirit to blow over the dying embers of her fragile faith. May a spark come to life and gradually grow into a robust fire as You tend to her. If necessary, force her to take a time-out – to physically rest, to pray, to soak in the good and true promises of Your Word, and to re-evaluate her schedule and priorities. Wrap her in the arms of a godly community that will nurture, counsel, and care for her.”
“And above all, may her heart be reminded of her First Love – the Lord Jesus Who gave His life so that she could have life and have it to the full. May she dwell on that Love and be healed. In His beautiful Name I pray, amen.”
The prayer warrior sat in silence for a bit. She knew her God had heard her prayer. The burden of need had been placed trustingly into the hands of the One Who could fully meet that need. Then she went on her way. And her Good Shepherd went on His. There was a wounded sheep that needed His care, and He was off to find her.
*****
If you could have been the one to write out that prayer request, please take a little time to let these verses wash over your soul. God put them in His Word for you – for this moment.
“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” – Jeremiah 31:25
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:1-4
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11:28-29
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts You.” – Isaiah 26:3
“Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” – Nehemiah 8:10b
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.” – Psalm 34:17
“Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand.” – Psalm 20:6
“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” – Numbers 23:19
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” – James 4:13-15
“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His.” – Hebrews 4:9-10
“So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the other - so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.” – Exodus 17:10-13
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” – Titus 3:4-5
“…There should be no division in the body, but…its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” – 1 Corinthians 12:25-26
“The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10
“I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know me – just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father – and I lay down My life for the sheep.” – John 10:14-15
