A Prayer for October
Our theme for 2020 is "Trust & Rest." This is especially timely in these days in which we currently find ourselves. Please join us in trusting and resting in our faithful God as you pray this prayer of trust with us.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8
O Lord, your desire for our trust in you in this passage is so intense that you say it twice - once as a verb, and once as a noun. Why so much emphasis, Lord? Is it because we so often believe we are trusting in you, but we are really trusting in other things - money, power, jobs, safety, a person, our possessions, ourselves? But how much we sell ourselves short! The blessing to us when we trust in you, when we put our trust in you, is rich and fruitful. A tree planted by water. Always green. Never worried about heat or drought. Always full of fruit. Father, 2020 has felt like a year of drought. It has been a trial to our souls. But here you remind us again, that we have no need to fear drought if we are trusting in you. You are our Spring of Living Water, a Well that never runs dry. Putting our trust securely in you eliminates both fear and anxiety. And it makes our lives fruitful, becoming a blessing to others.
Father, as we lean in to learning to trust you more, we also plead with you on behalf of so many millions of people with disabilities who cannot trust in you, because they don’t know who you are. They have been denied access to you and your Living Water - by people who believe that you have cursed them, by churches who don’t understand your image in every human, by belief systems that say they have no value or worth. Father, let your Living Water flow out to them, reaching them with hope and allowing them too, to be like trees planted by water - fruitful and green with life. Abundant life. Because that is why you came, Jesus, to bring abundant life to everyone. Give people with disabilities all over the world access to your abundant life, O Savior; and use us to do it.
Amen.