It's Not Me, It's You

I Samuel 12:23 -- "Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you."

In a short story that Billy Graham once shared I learned of a poor Scandinavian citizen that walked up to a public statue of Jesus Christ. Disappointed and grumbling the citizen was eager to share his frustration with a park attendant. He said rather loudly: "Sir, I cannot see the face of Christ!".

Sure enough, the angle from which the grumpy citizen stood did not provide a good look at the facial features in the carved statue. The park attendant put one hand on Grumpy's shoulder and said to him: "If you really want to see his face, kneel at his feet."

Almost unbelieving our grumpy Scandinavian knelt at the base of the statue - and to his amazement, he could see quite clearly the graceful facial features that had so alluded him previously.

Sometimes, we see the face of our Lord the best when we are the most humble, kneeling at his feet in earnest prayer on another's behalf. In fact, Samuel tells us that he would not sin against the Lord by withholding prayer. In I Samuel 12:23 we see that the earnest prayers from Samuel's lips were not for personal gain at all - but for the care and support of someone else.

Scrolling through the pages on Facebook I often see the request for prayer. A friend may be going through a difficult time or a loved one may have fallen ill. As my fingers hover over the computer keyboard to leave an encouraging comment it occurs to me that this request is not about my reply, or the often empty promise from one human to another that "I will pray for you." But rather, like Samuel, I should not stop praying for the needs of the others - and I definitely should not tell someone that I will pray for them - if I don't intent to keep my word.

Staring at the computer screen, I petition our Savior regarding the need of my Facebook friend. And THEN, I leave a comment reflecting my spiritual support.