Page 55 - Living Light Spring 2024

Friday May 3 - A prayer of purpose
“‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” John 12:27-28
There are times in our lives when something scary or unpleasant looms on the horizon. Perhaps it’s a tough exam or an interview. Perhaps it’s surgery or a hard goodbye. When facing these difficult moments I am tempted to pray to God to take it all away. But of course I have to face it, and so the prayer that I should make is one for courage and comfort.
Jesus, on the other hand, has a genuine choice over his destiny. Even now he could slip out of Jerusalem and return to the safety of Galilee. Yet to do so would be to walk away from God’s will and the purpose for which Jesus came. Jesus is in inner turmoil. Even though he is one with the Father (John 10:30), yet he is as humanly scared of suffering as any one of us.
Jesus ponders the prayer that he could make – “Father, save me from this hour” – but rejects it and instead prays a prayer of determination and boldness: “Father, glorify your name!” In doing so, Jesus moves from a ‘me’ prayer to a ‘you’ prayer. What really counts is how the Father will be glorified through the suffering that Jesus will undergo.
When we face a difficult future, are we able to move our prayers from ‘me’ to ‘you’, and to pray that God will be glorified in the challenges that we face?
Almighty God, may your name be glorified in the world and in my life. Amen.
Saturday May 4 - Mistaken thunder
The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. John 12:29
There must have been some standing there with Jesus who heard and understood God’s voice, otherwise his words would not be in the Bible. It seems that there were others who heard words but didn’t understand who spoke them, attributing them to an angel. And yet others who just heard a muffled roar that they thought sounded like thunder. Perhaps there were some who heard nothing at all.
The word of God meets a similar response today. Some hear God’s voice and obey it. Others find wisdom in the Christian faith but can’t make the jump to trust in God’s Son. To others the word of God is just meaningless noise or silence. I have heard people say that they would believe in God if only he would speak clearly to them. And yet perhaps God does speak to them, but they do not hear what he has to say.
Jesus goes on to tell his disciples that the voice was for their benefit and not his. Having prayed his prayer of surrender to the Father’s will, he knows the path that he must take. It is his disciples who need the reassurance that God will be glorified through it. They will then be responsible for taking the good news into a world that will often neither hear nor understand their message. It is a responsibility that remains with us today.
Father, may the words of your gospel find ears that hear, minds that understand and lives that obey. Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY
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