#63: Closer Than You Know

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I call to you, LORD; help me now! Listen to me when i call to you. Receive my prayer as incense, my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice. (Psalms 141:1-2)

The picture painted in this Psalm is that of a refugee that needs sincere and urgent help. the psalmist needed the help of God urgently [i call to you, LORD, help me now!]. Again our attention should be drawn to the descriptions and comparisons that the psalmist made with his prayer and lifting of hands. For a couple of weeks i have been researching to find out the meaning and significance of the evening sacrifice. It can also be referred to as [corporate] night devotion. The Israelites saw this as a moment to gather in one accord and worship God. The psalmist for one reason or the other could not attend the evening sacrifice, but did not see that as a barrier to worshiping God. He as well wanted his prayer to rise to heaven as a sweet smelling savor, holy and acceptable.

Today many Christians have idolised the church and neglected their personal altars. God cannot be restricted by geographical locations. He is omni-present. This is what Jesus meant when he spoke with the woman at the well:

Jesus said to her. "Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God's Spirit people will worship the Father as He really is, offering Him the true worship that He wants. (John 4:21-23)

Could this idolization abide because so many people do not know the God they proclaim they are worshiping? Heaven is closer than you know! You can pray and worship whereever you find yourself only by the power of God's Spirit

Thought: God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. (Psalms 46:1)

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