Prayer

Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. 3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. Thus begins Psalm 29. The rest of the chapter uses equally majestic language to describe God and His greatness and glory. A few days ago I started to pray in my usual way and then I stopped to think to Whom I was speaking. It overwhelmed me. How can I be talking to the God of the Universe? Sometimes I catch myself being so casual as I start to pray. Isaiah 6 is another passage that shows the majesty and greatness of God.Verses 1-3 say, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” This is Who I'm talking to when I pray. Do I show Him the proper reverence? Under the Old Covenant, the Israelites were not allowed to approach God for themselves. They had priests who made sacrifices and sought God on their behalf. There was a veil in the tabernacle and later the Temple through which only the High Priest could enter once a year to make atonement for their sins. When Jesus was crucified, the veil was torn in two, opening the way for all to enter the presence of God through the atoning work of His Son. Hebrews chapter 4 says that Jesus is our High Priest and that we should, "approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (verse 16). Isn't it amazing to think that Almighty God wants us to come to Him in prayer and that He sacrificed so much so that we could? I want to approach Him in a way that gives Him the honor that He's due. There are times, though, that I'm sure all we can croak out is "help me, God," or something similar and, as our Abba (daddy-Romans 8), I think He's ok with that too.