Today’s devotional is from Shiann’s pen:
Leaving Ruin is a book by Jeff Berryman. It is a novel narrated by a preacher who has lived and ministered in a West Texas town, not much different from our Hollis. Here is a description from the back of the book: “His life, much like the surrounding plains, looks bleak—strained relationships at home, ineffective ministry, and a congregation that no longer wants him. Hoping to hear a word from God, he gets little more than the occasional headache and the silence of a near-dead wind…he is horrified and amazed to discover that his life may not turn out at all like he’d planned.”
His prayers in this book exhibit his soul-hunger and are frequently haunting. I found myself unable to put the book down at times because I really understood his pain. The prayers are frequently odd and may be at times, and on the surface, irreverent.
Dear God,
You are holy and great, I know, but I don’t feel it much tonight. The written words of Jesus are old, and good, and He is still here, I know, but I need a new word, somehow, new like your mercies each morning, and on nights like tonight, days like today, I long to know your presence like I know the taste of sweet bread in my mouth, like I knew Beethoven’s Ninth, with clarity and power, like the ringing of cathedral bells in this sanctuary called my life. Roll into me, O Lord, like a warm front coming down off the plains, and say my name.
Forgive me for the deep sin I keep. I have no goodness, no nothing, to offer.
Does triumph ever look like barely hanging on?
Show me Jesus walking among the people of the mountain, and Lord, I’d like to walk behind Him. My I listen as he speaks? Love as he loves? May I ever talk with him at the end of the day?
Thank you for the quiet…but feel free to break it anytime.
Give me your voice.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
This prayer is rich with pain and hope and truth. Triumph can look like just barely hanging on until the moment that God makes something great out of our simple faithful endurance.
Today, may you have the courage to faithfully endure and wait on God’s voice and power.
Shiann
