Lazaroo – Thursday, March 3, 2011
3 comments, Mar 03, 2011
Pray the words of this Lazaroo aloud, with true humility:
“All the men assigned to the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, number 186,400. They will set out first.”
(Numbers 2:9)
Somebody has to go first, Jesus –
which is totally different from wanting to be first.
The person who wants to be first is looking for power, fame and honor.
The person who is willing to go first knows it could cost him everything.
From a distance, going first looks glamorous.
Up close…not so much.
The person who goes first…
walks out on the ice to see if it’s frozen
heads down the path to see if the enemy is waiting
takes the new medicine to see if it’s safe
pets the strange dog to see if he’s friendly
approaches the boss to see if she’ll listen to reason
sniffs the milk to see if it’s gone bad.
Make me willing
to be last
and go first.
_________
Numbers 24:20; Judges 20:18; Isaiah 6:8; Matthew 19:29; Matthew 20:20-27; Mark 9:33-37; Romans 1:16-17; 1 Corinthians 12:27-31; 1 Corinthians 14:29-31; 3 John 1:9
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Steve Says:
Yeah, Ken…I hear your struggle with the “make me willing” part of this prayer. Obviously, you can’t identify and that’s cool.
But in my experience there are a ton of us – in one part or another of our lives, at one time or another in our lives – who know exactly what we should do…but have no heart to do it. At such times you may feel so sad, wishing you were a better person, looking with envy on those who seem to have a passion to do the right thing. Maybe that’s when the best prayer you can muster is, “Make me willing…” At such times you’re asking God to change you into a different person – something that He is fully able and willing to do.
Was that something close to the prayer David prayed in Psalm 51, after he sinned with Bathsheba and Uriah: “Create in me a pure heart, O God!” My guess is he was saying, “I have a filthy heart, LORD…which is why I did such terrible things. Please change the very core of me into somebody who won’t act that way any more.”
Mar 03, 2011, 4:37 pm