Calvin Synod Herald, 2005 (106. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2005-11-01 / 11-12. szám

8

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

An Evening Vesper Youth Camp 2005

God doesn’t always grant us what we ask for. Since this is something we’ve all experienced, let’s dig a little deeper into God’s character for some explanations regarding His take on prayer.

We can sift out two truths from Isaiah 65:24,

“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.”

God hears our pleas and responds. That’s right, He answers (not to be confused with “yields to”) each of our prayers. The very fact that He answers in response to our call is what makes prayer, our communication with God, so vital. Without it, we may completely miss out on, or misunderstand God’s message. Getting impatient, moving on to other agendas or tuning out are all ways that we miss His response as a result of perceiving His “delayed” message as “denied.” Fortunately, God’s timing is not our timing; it is, however, perfect timing.

Misunderstanding God’s response is just as easy; when we focus too hard on the anticipated outcome and strain our eyes searching for the desired “sign” or answer, we become blind to His revelation. This is most common with “simple yes/no” prayers, such as asking God to heal or preserve someone’s life - He may choose not to - so we label the situation as “denied” and move on. NO - this is when prayer is most applicable, after the fact! Tell Him how you feel, ask for Him to reveal His purpose behind this, plead for Him to show you your role in the situation present, pray for understanding; wrestle it out with Him. He is more than a mere giver/withholder; He is a comforter, counselor, teacher and lover! We are created in His image, so He knows that we demand explanations, for He, Himself, longs to explain: “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”

How awesome, according to Amos 3:7, not only does He give ear and feedback, but He even unveils his plans to us! He lets us in on what He’s up to. Just as we, humans, are designed much more intricately than to settle for mere yes’ and no’s, God, whose image we resemble, is also concerned about the deeper issues of our hearts. God recognizes the two elements of everyone’s communication with him, our desire and petition.

Desire is our inmost longing and motive while petition is the wording that the desire gets wrapped in, the spoken request itself. God discerns the two; He hears our petition, but responds to our desire. Take a look at how Jesus responds to a demon-possessed man in Mark 5: 1 -20, keeping in mind Jesus’ ability to distinguish between desire and petition. Notice that Jesus is confronted with two pleas in verses 12 and 18. The demons “beg” to be released into the herd of pigs, while the man, after being cleansed, “begs” to follow Jesus. Isn’t it shockingly odd that Jesus yields the demons’ request while rejecting the man’s plea to follow him? The end of verse 13 hints us as to why He chose to act this way. Jesus, being omniscient, knew that the demons’ desire behind their petition to enter those pigs was to cause chaos, destruction and sabotage. He let them have their petition, but not their desire,

since the pigs drowned before they could carry out any harm. What about the man’s desire? I think it’s safe to assume that his desire was to just love on Jesus and serve Him in return for freeing him, but he couldn’t quite find the right words and simply asked to go with Jesus. In response, Jesus tells him that he is to tell others of what Jesus had done for him instead; this is how this man was to love, serve and glorify Jesus... “And all the people were amazed.” is how verse 20 concludes the account. I don’t suppose those people would have had a chance to be amazed at the freed man’s testimony, had the man interpreted Jesus’ response to his petition as “denied.” It is the same today, how else would we know what gives Him glory other than by communicating with Him through a relationship fueled by prayer. I am sustained by knowing that I turn to a God who knows me a lot better than I know myself! How glad am I that He answers my desires, rather than any distorted, mispronounced or even eloquent petitions. This vesper reflection was presented by Miss Anita Miko at our Youth Camp this year. “It was such an awesome experience for me to return and take part in what I believe to have been a spiritually productive week, ” she wrote. Anita, her brother István and parents Ibolya and Bela celebrated their 10th year in the United States this summer. They came from Nagyvarad, Transylvania. Anita is 20 years old and attends Wayne State University in Michigan. Her long-term career goal is to teach university level English composition, sharing her passion for literacy and effective communication to others. “Not only that, ” she says, “but I see the arena of higher education as the perfect place to grow old, unlike my current job, waitressing at a Chinese restaurant. However... I have finally been granted the privilege of taking one of my Buddhist co-workers to church, and introducing her to Christ. ” Anita is involved at Northridge (nondenominational) Church as well as the American Hungarian Reformed Church in Allen Park. This was her third year at camp, andfirst year as part of the leadership.

Benefit Music Program to Aid Hungarian Church in Louisiana

The First Hungarian Reformed Church of Los Angeles is staging a Benefit Music Program. The proceeds will be sent to the Hungarian Presbyterian Church of Albany (Arpadhon), in Louisiana. This church was founded by a community of Hungarians 100 years ago.

We had received some letters via their Pastor, Rev. Robert Weathersby, wherein a number of families detail how they lost all of their worldly possessions, including their homes, during Hurricane Katrina. Some do not have jobs to return to, but must still continue making mortgage payments. The letters are heart-wrenching, but are filled with faith and hope that God will provide.

Our benefit will be on November 6th, at 2 PM, and will feature Hungarian singer Csongrádi Kata and others. The tickets are $25 each. We are asking all of our friends to come in support, and we