Can't hear you!

Like most people worldwide, we had a simplified service streamed from Banchory this morning. Worship led by a married couple; service led by the minister.

The sound quality was terrible. Maybe it’s my laptop? We couldn’t really hear the prayer, nor the message. But we could join the worship. Worthy is the Lamb who saves. Worthy is the King who conquers the grave. Our God is faithful. He never leaves us.

There was something so moving about seeing church leaders there, leading as usual. Something so inspiring knowing others in our church community were participating, too.

Sometimes I sit in my prayer window, desperate to hear what God will say to me. And I can’t quite hear him. I hear a faint whisper maybe, but it’s indistinct and I’m not sure I’m hearing a message. But I sense he is there. I worship, and I come out refreshed and renewed.

In crisis, our instinct is to join together with our loved ones. Exactly what we can’t do now. But God is there, waiting. We can spend time with him. Even if we can’t hear him clearly, we can sense his presence, and we can worship.

God bless this world which he created and redeemed through the agony of the cross.

23 Times!

I don’t know what happened today. 

I wrote a short email to someone from the Ipad, and sent it. I had a message that for some reason it had failed to send, so I sent it again. The screen seemed to freeze so I began pushing the cancel button, which didn’t do anything. I got more frantic, alternating between send and cancel, but nothing could take it off my screen, and there seemed no way back to the inbox. 

Finally I remembered the universal tool for fixing major computer glitches. Turn it off.

When I restarted, all was well. I deleted the message just to be sure. Then I heard back from the recipient of this rather unimportant message. She had received it 23 times.

I wonder what she was thinking as it continued to come in.

I wonder what God thinks when my prayers go over the same ground, again, and again, and again. I’m sure once my message was read once or twice, it was deleted. She surely didn’t read it 23 times.

Does God listen to my repeated prayers every time? What a bore he must find me – or just plain pathetic.

I must begin to have faith that he’s heard me the first time, and doesn’t need continually reminding.