This morning we started a new Sunday school series at church on the prophetic books of the Bible. The teacher (a very intelligent and gifted young man, who also happens to be a dear friend of ours) was comparing the biblical prophets to the pagan prophets of the same time.
They (the pagan prophets) were obsessed, he said, with figuring out what the gods wanted and what the future would hold, and used all sorts of bizarre means to gain answers to their questions. You know, fun things like dissecting sheep livers. We all nodded along, yes, they were crazy, who would do a thing like that.
And then he asked a question that stalled most of the nodding (or, at least, it did for me): "how often do I obsess over some question I have instead of just asking God for the answer?"
I'm not typically prone to worry about the future, so I often gloss over questions like that. But I started thinking about how much time I've spent wondering about certain things. (Always at the top of the list: whether I should change Levi's math program, and whether I'm disciplining effectively.) While I may not feel worried about these things, it's pretty easy to look at my thought life and admit that I obsess a lot more often than I pray.
Something to think about -- er, to pray about. :)
They (the pagan prophets) were obsessed, he said, with figuring out what the gods wanted and what the future would hold, and used all sorts of bizarre means to gain answers to their questions. You know, fun things like dissecting sheep livers. We all nodded along, yes, they were crazy, who would do a thing like that.
And then he asked a question that stalled most of the nodding (or, at least, it did for me): "how often do I obsess over some question I have instead of just asking God for the answer?"
I'm not typically prone to worry about the future, so I often gloss over questions like that. But I started thinking about how much time I've spent wondering about certain things. (Always at the top of the list: whether I should change Levi's math program, and whether I'm disciplining effectively.) While I may not feel worried about these things, it's pretty easy to look at my thought life and admit that I obsess a lot more often than I pray.
Something to think about -- er, to pray about. :)
Good point! I tend to obsess in the middle of the night when I wake up. I am determined to read scripture or something devotional that will help me be more prayerful.
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