I haven’t offered any solution to this ■problem.” He said, “You’ve helped me a lot by just listening with a sympa thetic and understanding ear. What I really needed was somebody just' to talk to so I could get these things off my chest.” I was acting as a “safety” valve to this friend’s deep emotional disturbance. And this is what Moses did: he just unburdened himself to the Lord. When you’re disturbed, and when you find yourself under sueh pressure that you feel as though you’d burst, why not draw aside and tell it to the Lord? Someone has well written: __ l But prayer is far more than just a place of unburdening; it is also a place of RENEWAL. David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” The place of prayer was to David a hallowed sanctuary in which he would receive strength and power, and in which his discouraged heart would be cheered. In the fortieth Psalm, he said “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up . . . and set my feet upon a rock . . . and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust.” What a blessed experience came to David as he sought the presence of God — he was uplifted and renewed for the conflicts of life. But notice the experience of Moses, when he unburdened his heart before the Lord and in response the Lord spoke to him and brought strength and courage anew to him, together with a renewed challenge and commission. Ex odus chapter six and verse one: “Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do . . . and God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And I have also es tablished my covenant . . . And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel . . . and I have remembered. I am the Lord your God, which bring- eth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the good land . . . ” (Ex. 6:1-3). 28
Prayer (continued) We believe that the Lord would have us learn from this passage that prayer is a place of UNBURDENING! Do we realize how important this is to us, particularly in this day of mounting frustrations and the rapidly increasing pace of life. We are con stantly exposed to increasing tensions and difficulties. Psychologists tell us that this takes a drastic toll on the mental well-being of an individual who, as a result, automatically sets up defense mechanisms such as withdraw al, regression, repression, sublimation, etc. As believers, we are subject to the same pressures, the same emotional stresses and disorders, but with one great difference: if we are in fellow ship with the Lord Jesus Christ, if we are living in the center of His will, if we are allowing the Holy Spirit to direct and fill us, we have a built-in defense mechanism to such pressures in the person of the indwelling Spirit of God. When Paul was surfeited with pres sure and with impending suffering, he said “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto my self.” So singular was his purpose, so dedicated and yielded was his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, that he was literally untouched by pressures, threats, and problems that would have broken the average man. How important it is that we take time every single day, or even many times a day, to draw apart and spend a quiet time on our faces before the Lord. It is there that we can unload and unburden our hostilities, our frus trations and the deepest disturbances of our hearts, because He knows all about us, He understands us, and He cannot only listen but He can comfort and help us. Recently, one of my friends who 'is in the Lord’s work came to see me. After an horn- and a half, during which time he did most of the talking, he said “Thank you so much; you’ve been a great help.” I replied, “But how have I helped you? I haven’t said much and
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker