Reaching For The Pain Relief Medicine!

After working hard raking and compiling leaves all afternoon and into the night, I headed home feeling a great deal weariness and muscle ache. As I entered my home, my complaint was very obvious. “Cindi,“ I cried, “do we have any  pain relief medicine?“ She responded, “Didn’t you take any Ibuprofen before you started all that work?” It was in the form of an indictment which I needed to hear. Time after time, I know better than to wait for my muscles ache before taking something.

Isn’t that ever so familiar for any of us? It seems as if we wait until after the pain to look for the remedy. Prayer is often treated in the same way. We wait for troubles and problems before we go to the Lord in prayer. It’s as if we have a last-minute ditch effort to find a solution when the answer has been there all along. The apostle Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. It’s in times of trouble that to go to the source of our relief and the answer to our problems.

In Psalm 20:1, 5 we read that in times of trouble, may the Lord answer our cry. It is a reminder that we should take our concerns to the Lord in all circumstances. I love what Tony Dungy says on this very point:

“It’s hard to remember when we are in the middle of tough situations, but while we are in the midst of them And wondering how in the world they will ever end or how will we get out of them, we are doing nothing proactive to change the current environment. More often than not, we tend to worry.”

It’s like reaching for the pain relief after we are already in pain rather than going to God in prayer, seeking His Will and His wisdom in all circumstances. Tony Dungy tells us, “...throughout Scripture God makes it abundantly clear to us that we are to pray….” 

If you are like me, we like  to get as many miles out of our gas tank as we can. Daily 

I travel many miles. There has been more than one occasion where I have nearly been empty before finding a gas station, nearly escaping as disasters outcome, being stuck along the road. Why do we wait until our strength is almost gone or our gas tank is nearly empty before we refuel?

We live in difficult and confusing times. Worry is often our response to conflict and fear. Worry is often a response to uncertainty and times of distress. 

I wonder what it would be like to live a life devoted to prayer and even before life‘s circumstance in trouble, we are already in prayer.

I know for me, I need a constant reminder to go to the Lord. Why is it that trouble always seems to be one promise rather than my daily desire to devote myself to prayer? 

I travel across the state of Indiana each and every day and I love to read church signs. Recently I read this message; “Worry is the dark room where negatives can develop.”

Dungy is right when he shares, “When you see the storm clouds gathering, commence praying!”