My family and I packed up and left for Ocean City, Maryland, a little over a week ago. We planned to rent a condo on the beach and head back home the following Saturday, which meant we would have six full days just to relax, enjoy spending time together, and to admire the great Atlantic Ocean. It was our first “real” vacation since COVID started, so we were all very excited. We loaded our suitcases in the back of our huge fifteen-passenger van and buckled in for the four-hour ride. There was only one slight drawback, however: on the morning we left, the skies were overcast, and raindrops splashed our van’s windshield.
Disappointment seeped in. How could the past week have been hot, sticky, and sunshiny, and now, just as we’re leaving, the weather takes a sudden turn to become so gloomy and non-beach worthy?
As we proceeded on with our journey, Mom spoke up from the driver’s seat, her voice loud enough to carry to the back of the van: “You all need to pray earnestly for some sunshine.”
And we did, each of us in his or her own heart. We prayed, believing God could provide. Guess what? He did! Not only did He give us sunshine for the remainder of our drive, but also for every single day we were in Ocean City. Occasionally it clouded up while we were lounging on the beach, and Mom would take the opportunity to tell Dad, “Time to pray.” The skies cleared up for a while, and when the clouds returned, Dad smiled and said to Mom, “Your turn.”
We’ve gone to Ocean City almost every year for the past six years, and this is the first time in my memory that we had almost constant sunshine. It was amazing—all the more so because we prayed specifically for it and saw God answer as only He could.
As Pastor Noll shared in his message this past Sunday, God desires us to come before Him on a regular basis and humble ourselves in prayer. There is no right or wrong way to pray—as David wrote in Psalm 62:8, “Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” (emphasis mine) God wants to hear it all—our feelings (the good and the bad), our praises and fears, our requests and thanksgiving. He knows what we need before we even ask, and He’s already promised to satisfy the longing soul. (Psalm 107:9) And we can take comfort in knowing the Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to our Savior’s will for our lives. (Romans 8:26-27) How awesome is that?
Elijah knew God was about to send rain, but he prayed for it anyway—more than once! I know God has everything mapped out, from the weather, to those He has predestined for salvation, to His plan for my life, but He calls me to pray for it all anyway. I’ve found that when He answers those prayers, the joy I experience is indescribable.
Another point to remember, though, is that we are to ask without doubting, believing that God gives without reproach. Otherwise, like the apostle wrote in James 1, we are as “a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” who must not expect to receive anything from the Lord. My family saw the waves in the Atlantic Ocean, and I find this commentary by Adam Clarke to hold true: “The man who is not thoroughly persuaded that if he asks of God he shall receive, resembles a wave of the sea; he is in a state of continual agitation; driven by the wind, and tossed: now rising by hope, then sinking by despair.”
Rather, we must rely fully upon God and upon His promises, so that we are filled with His hope always.
God is still growing me in my prayer journey. Over the past year He’s given me new resources, like a great book called The Hour That Changes the World by Dick Eastman (which I highly recommend!). Praying the Bible is also an awesome way to go. (I’ve used the website journeyeveryday.com to guide me through this.) Most importantly, God has showed me that I can come to Him just as I am, broken and messy, and find grace.
Today, I invite you to join me in coming to the feet of Jesus and pouring our hearts out to Him. It may be a prayer you’ll have to lift continually or just this one time. It may be disorganized. The requests you ask for may seem too trivial to you for the Lord of the universe to even consider—like sunshine on vacation days—but rest assured, our God is a personal God, and He cares for and about us. Don’t let anything hold you back from approaching His throne of grace today and every day.