A picture of prayer
May the hand of God protect us.
May the shield of God defend us. St Patrick
Read Exodus 17:8—15
I see in this story something my doubting friends will set to one side (at its most polite). Others will pity me for reading texts like this. But for all that, here I see a picture of what is happening when I pray. When I pray I am acknowledging that I am a very fragile, vulnerable person. I need others to bear me up. I will sometimes ask them to pray for me and with me. I am not in control of all the powers at work in my life. Indeed, I am at the mercy of powers beyond me. It feels at times like war. But in praying I seek to put myself under the protective blessing of God. Others pray with me. They intercede. And when I return to give thanks I acknowledge that the victory is the Lord’s.
This night, God my provider and my protector, you remind me of your arm to shield and defend me. I thank you that your eye is on your children. You call me to pray for them, and to be supported by others in prayer. I thank you for those I know pray with me. Every day I stand in need of your overarching blessing. When the situation becomes desperate, those times when your people are threatened, when they are in danger, when they confront conflict and abuse, the suffering of the body and danger to their faithfulness, then again I pray your protective hand over me, that I may be faithful in prayer for your people.