Life will have its up and downs. There are times when it just doesn’t get any better than this, times when everything is just fine but not really great, and times that stink.
When things are good everything goes well. We can’t make a mistake. The “big mo” momentum is on our side and life is sweet. The decisions you make get applause. People smile at you when you walk by. There is a spring in your step and a song in heart. You look in the mirror and say “Life is good.”
But when it goes bad it all goes bad. The slide seems to have no end. The highway of life becomes a cul de sac. Life is like a bad country song.
Well, it was all that I could do to keep from cryin'
Sometimes it seems so useless to remain
You don't have to call me darlin'...darlin'
You never even call me by my name.
Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison.
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a slow old train.
And I'll hang around as long as you will let me
And I never minded standin' in the rain. No,
You don't have to call me darlin'...darlin'
You never even call me
Well, I wonder why you don't call me
Why don't you ever call me by my name?
“You Never Call Me by My Name” – Lyrics by David Allen Coe
It was 9:00 on Saturday morning. Carol and I had finished a light breakfast and I had taken our daughter to a day camp and just returned home. Carol was making arrangements for a friend to stay with Dawn for the weekend since we were planning to spend it with my dad.
It was a warm, sunny March morning. I could hear the wind chimes playing a soft song in the gentle breeze. This was the kind of day you move to California for. I was about to pick up the morning paper hoping to spend a few relaxing moments while Carol finished packing.
We had just completed one of the most successful but equally stressful three months of the fiscal year. I was exhausted. Our organization had set an all time production record, but the effort had taken its physical and mental toll.
As I opened the screen door to the patio the phone rang. I reached over the table and picked up the receiver. An unfamiliar voice said, “Mr. (pause) Hitchcock, Mr. Bruce Hitchcock?” I said, “Yes.” The voice continued, “I have been trying to reach your father and there is no answer at his home. Your mother expired sometime early this morning. When we went to check on her at 8:30, she was not breathing. We called the funeral home and they have made all the arrangements.” That was it. I said, “Thank you, good bye.”
Mom hadn’t been feeling well since Thanksgiving. In early February the doctor sent her to an oncologist where she was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. Now, only eight weeks later, she was gone. Gone to be with the Lord.
She was so sick that we had moved her into a convalescent hospital. The last week she slowly deteriorated to the point that she could no longer speak. But, as I leaned down to kiss her that Friday, I heard her whisper ever so quietly that I could barely make it out, “Bruce, I love you.” She knew I was there. I guess she was saying goodbye.
Little did I know that this was just the beginning of one of worst years of my life. At the end of the fiscal year in June, the company promoted my top sales manager. That started a downward production spiral that ended in the only decrease we had in my twenty-five years with the company. In addition, the unbearable pain I was experiencing in my shoulder was diagnosed as a torn rotator cuff from an old football injury. After the surgery it took four months of painful rehabilitation. I had hit bottom both physically and emotionally.
I would like to say that I had been in communication with God everyday during this period. But unfortunately most of us, and that includes me, don’t seek Him until we have nowhere else to turn. With nowhere else to turn I cried out to Him. I needed more than a prayer with a quick fix. I needed a time of deep rest, the kind that only can come from God holding you in his arms, hiding you in His love, and protecting you from the world until He can work you through recovery.
Psalms 62:5-8 says, “My soul waits in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. (NASU)
I learned three truths from this experience of deep despair. God is the only one in whom we can place our complete trust. The only place we can safely pour out our hearts and know that it is heard and understood. God is our shelter in the time of storm.
First, God can be trusted. When we lean on Him we will not fall. Psalms 143:8 says, “Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You.” (NKJV)
Secondly, God always listens. Job’s friends listened, but then they responded to his emptiness inappropriately. Psalms 4:3 assures us that God listens when it says, “The Lord hears when I call to Him.” (NASU)
Finally, God is our sanctuary. He is our hiding place. God is our refuge: Jeremiah 16:19 “Lord, my strength and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress.” (NASU)
Psalms 61:1-4 should be our prayer daily but most importantly when we are in despair. “Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.” (NASU)
I looked to find the strength in me,
But came up empty, bound not free.
The pain was deep, so dark, so real,
Despair was mine, I could not heal.
Then it came to me; Oh Lord,
The answer’s here within Your Word,
I looked and found a verse so dear
Just the one to bring me near
To you oh God
Words to heal the open wound
The loneliness, the hurt, the pain
I could live again.
Thank you God for being here,
For loving me, dispelling fear.
Protecting me from worldly harm
A shelter in the time of storm.
- Bruce
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Pour out your heart before Him
In October of 1979 I was transferred with my family to Overland Park, Kansas (the company called it a promotion). After 3 months in Kansas I knew why Dorothy wanted to get out of there so bad. I worked long hours in order to earn another promotion that might take me to a warmer climate. On two occasions God told me to slow down. My Doctor warned me that I could be headed for further complications if I didn’t slow down. However, I was so busy working and we were having so much success; I didn’t listen.
In February 0f 1980 I awoke in the middle of the night with severe chest pains. Carol rushed me to the hospital. The cardiologist’s diagnosis was a severe heart attack involving the bottom third of my heart. He suggested that we wait for three days for the heart to settle down and then perform an angiogram to pinpoint the dead area of my heart and then he would prescribe a restricted treatment program. I got the message.
Since I was going to be in the hospital and since I was scared to death (oops that’s not a good word to use), I asked Carol to bring me my Bible. I was led specifically to the book of Daniel. As I reached chapter 9 it became clear why God wanted me to read this section of scripture. He was not interested in me seeing the facts surrounding the prayer but instead the pattern of the prayer.
The first action in Daniels prayer is humility; he humbles himself before God (Chapter 9:3). Secondly he recognizes God’s power, authority and compassion. (9:4) Third Daniel confesses his sin and the sin of Israel. (9:5-15) in verse 16 Daniel makes his specific prayer request. Next he asks for God’s attention to his prayer. (9:17-18) Finally in verse 19, Daniel asks for God to take action.
Daniel had no sooner finished his prayer and Gabriel appears to him as say that at the utterance of Daniel’s first words God answered his prayer. Wow I thought, that is the kind of miracle I need.
Needless to say, I spent the next three days pouring out my heart before God according to the pattern of Daniel’s prayer. Early on the fourth day, the cardiologist completed the angiogram. That afternoon the he came into my room and admitted that he had never had a misdiagnosis before but that the angiogram showed that my heart was completely healthy with no blockage and no damage. I asked him what was next. He said, “go home.” Carol was really upset that he didn’t at least put me on a diet.
I slowed down, sales took off, and I was promoted again six months later and sent back to California. Prayer is purposeful, powerful, and personal. God is so good.
Psalms 62:5-8, “My soul waits in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. (NASV)
Pouring out your heart before God is prayer. Prayer is the way that we communicate directly with God. Psalms 66:16-20 demonstrates this truth when the psalmist writes of his petition to God, “Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell of what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear; but certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer or His lovingkindness from me.” (NASV)
Prayer is purposeful
Prayer is petitioning God for his attention. Prayer is the spiritual element that maintains our relationship with God. It is the way that we bond spiritually with Him.
We pray to recognize God for who he is and to thank Him for what He has done generally (creation of the universe) or specifically (healing). We also use prayer to humble ourselves for our unworthiness and to ask Him to forgive us for our habitual shortcomings. Furthermore, prayer helps strengthen us through times of suffering, testing, or temptation by empowering us with the continual presence and power of His Spirit, while giving us the basic needs of our lives. According to Unger’s Bible Dictionary, “Prayer is the expression of man's dependence upon God for all things.”
Prayer is powerful
God is all powerful. When Moses questioned this power as Isreal prepared for war God spoke to him in Numbers 11:23 and said, "Is the Lord's power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not." (NASV)
Since God is all powerful there is no limit to what He can and will do for those who love Him and keep his commandments. John 15:16 assures us that this is true when Jesus says to us, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
(NKJV)
Limitless power means an inexhaustible list of petitions. To reinforce what He says in John 15:15, Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7-12, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (NKJV) There is no limit to God’s love for us. Therefore, there is no limit to what the father will provide for His children.
Ephesians 1:18-19 says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” NASV
Prayer is personal
In Galatians 4:6-7 we see that our relationship with God is a personal one, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. (NASV) God is our spiritual Father. He lives in us in the presence of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 illustrates this truth when Paul says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” (NASV) God loves us as a father loves his child. He not only loves us with an unfathomable love but He also has placed in us His Spirit in the form of the Holy Spirit to give us access to Him and to direct us in His will for our lives. How can God be any more personal than this?
A personal God listens to personal requests. Since he is our Father he expects us to ask Him for those things that we need. Is there anything that our Father will not give us if we ask in His will? The promise of His hearing and answering our personal requests is reinforces in 1 John 5:14-15 when it states unequivocally, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” (NASV)
God allows us to enter into His presence without an intercessor. I may pray directly, speak directly to the Creator of all things, the Judge of all men. I can stand in his presence spiritually and talk to him about our relationship; His power, love, and mercy and my unworthiness. Yet it is His personal love for us that allows us this intimate relationship. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”
My personal request is to a personal God who knows me and loves me as no other can. He is all wise. In His perfect wisdom He makes the right decision at the right time for me. Could we ask for more?
“Prayer is request to a personal Lord who answers as He knows best. We should not think that we will always have success in obtaining the things for which we ask. In His wisdom, God hears and answers in the way that is best.” (From Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
Luke 11:1 Lord, teach us to pray. (NASV)
Lord teach us to pray.
Teach us to say
The words confession
With a heart of repentance.
God hear my mind
Be gentle and kind
As you always do
When we come to you
Hear and forgive
That we may live
A life that is true
Filled with you.
- Bruce
In February 0f 1980 I awoke in the middle of the night with severe chest pains. Carol rushed me to the hospital. The cardiologist’s diagnosis was a severe heart attack involving the bottom third of my heart. He suggested that we wait for three days for the heart to settle down and then perform an angiogram to pinpoint the dead area of my heart and then he would prescribe a restricted treatment program. I got the message.
Since I was going to be in the hospital and since I was scared to death (oops that’s not a good word to use), I asked Carol to bring me my Bible. I was led specifically to the book of Daniel. As I reached chapter 9 it became clear why God wanted me to read this section of scripture. He was not interested in me seeing the facts surrounding the prayer but instead the pattern of the prayer.
The first action in Daniels prayer is humility; he humbles himself before God (Chapter 9:3). Secondly he recognizes God’s power, authority and compassion. (9:4) Third Daniel confesses his sin and the sin of Israel. (9:5-15) in verse 16 Daniel makes his specific prayer request. Next he asks for God’s attention to his prayer. (9:17-18) Finally in verse 19, Daniel asks for God to take action.
Daniel had no sooner finished his prayer and Gabriel appears to him as say that at the utterance of Daniel’s first words God answered his prayer. Wow I thought, that is the kind of miracle I need.
Needless to say, I spent the next three days pouring out my heart before God according to the pattern of Daniel’s prayer. Early on the fourth day, the cardiologist completed the angiogram. That afternoon the he came into my room and admitted that he had never had a misdiagnosis before but that the angiogram showed that my heart was completely healthy with no blockage and no damage. I asked him what was next. He said, “go home.” Carol was really upset that he didn’t at least put me on a diet.
I slowed down, sales took off, and I was promoted again six months later and sent back to California. Prayer is purposeful, powerful, and personal. God is so good.
Psalms 62:5-8, “My soul waits in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. (NASV)
Pouring out your heart before God is prayer. Prayer is the way that we communicate directly with God. Psalms 66:16-20 demonstrates this truth when the psalmist writes of his petition to God, “Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell of what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear; but certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer or His lovingkindness from me.” (NASV)
Prayer is purposeful
Prayer is petitioning God for his attention. Prayer is the spiritual element that maintains our relationship with God. It is the way that we bond spiritually with Him.
We pray to recognize God for who he is and to thank Him for what He has done generally (creation of the universe) or specifically (healing). We also use prayer to humble ourselves for our unworthiness and to ask Him to forgive us for our habitual shortcomings. Furthermore, prayer helps strengthen us through times of suffering, testing, or temptation by empowering us with the continual presence and power of His Spirit, while giving us the basic needs of our lives. According to Unger’s Bible Dictionary, “Prayer is the expression of man's dependence upon God for all things.”
Prayer is powerful
God is all powerful. When Moses questioned this power as Isreal prepared for war God spoke to him in Numbers 11:23 and said, "Is the Lord's power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not." (NASV)
Since God is all powerful there is no limit to what He can and will do for those who love Him and keep his commandments. John 15:16 assures us that this is true when Jesus says to us, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
(NKJV)
Limitless power means an inexhaustible list of petitions. To reinforce what He says in John 15:15, Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7-12, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (NKJV) There is no limit to God’s love for us. Therefore, there is no limit to what the father will provide for His children.
Ephesians 1:18-19 says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” NASV
Prayer is personal
In Galatians 4:6-7 we see that our relationship with God is a personal one, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. (NASV) God is our spiritual Father. He lives in us in the presence of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 illustrates this truth when Paul says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” (NASV) God loves us as a father loves his child. He not only loves us with an unfathomable love but He also has placed in us His Spirit in the form of the Holy Spirit to give us access to Him and to direct us in His will for our lives. How can God be any more personal than this?
A personal God listens to personal requests. Since he is our Father he expects us to ask Him for those things that we need. Is there anything that our Father will not give us if we ask in His will? The promise of His hearing and answering our personal requests is reinforces in 1 John 5:14-15 when it states unequivocally, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” (NASV)
God allows us to enter into His presence without an intercessor. I may pray directly, speak directly to the Creator of all things, the Judge of all men. I can stand in his presence spiritually and talk to him about our relationship; His power, love, and mercy and my unworthiness. Yet it is His personal love for us that allows us this intimate relationship. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”
My personal request is to a personal God who knows me and loves me as no other can. He is all wise. In His perfect wisdom He makes the right decision at the right time for me. Could we ask for more?
“Prayer is request to a personal Lord who answers as He knows best. We should not think that we will always have success in obtaining the things for which we ask. In His wisdom, God hears and answers in the way that is best.” (From Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
Luke 11:1 Lord, teach us to pray. (NASV)
Lord teach us to pray.
Teach us to say
The words confession
With a heart of repentance.
God hear my mind
Be gentle and kind
As you always do
When we come to you
Hear and forgive
That we may live
A life that is true
Filled with you.
- Bruce
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