What to pray for...

Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. 
Exodus 29:45-46

What to Pray for...
By Rev. William Dohle

Ever have a moment where you wonder: what do I pray for?  Ever have that moment where you don't know what to say?

To be honest, those moments happen frequently for me.  Usually in moments of crisis, but they can happen when all is going well too.

It starts like this... You sit down to pray and you begin great and then you stop.  In your head you cry out, "What should I pray FOR?  I've been given so much!"  You ramble on about this or that, giving thanks for your blessings, raising needs that you see others need more than yourself.  And then you close your prayer and hope you said it right.  That's what happens in the GOOD times.

In bad times... well... You're sitting to pray at the bedside of someone whose life is ebbing away and you realize that to pray for healing might prolong the person's suffering and pain.  To pray for strength might do the same.  But to pray for them to pass quickly doesn't sound right either.  So you mumble something about peace and leave it all in God's hands.

Either way you really don't know what to say or to pray for.

Thankfully God gives us reason to pray and reason to call upon him and what God promises to deliver.  Plus, as an added bonus, God tells us exactly why he messes with us in the first place.

God does this often in Scripture but especially in the later part of Exodus, after all the descriptions of the tabernacle and the priests and after Aaron and his sons have been consecretated to the Lord.  There God tells Israel, "I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God...I am the one who brought them out of Egypt SO THAT I might dwell among them."

Do you hear the reason God gives for saving Israel?  It's not so that he will be given some fancy tabernacle to stay in complete with gold stands.  It's not so that the priests may minister to the people.  God doesn't save so that heaven will be filled with believers either.  God saves because God wishes to dwell with them!

That's it.  Presence and dwelling.  That's what God promises to bring.  He promises to bring himself.  His reasons are simple.  To be with us.  God saves us from sin and death, not to have some super-people that are immune to pain and suffering, but to be able to dwell with us.  To be here for us.  To be our God and we to be his people.  And for God to be present among us.

God offers and promises nothing more...and nothing less than his presence here...

We may pray for healing and sometimes receive it...but God offers presence always.
We may pray for some physical change and see it happen...God offers himself spiritually even when it doesn't.
We may pray for circumstances to be different and they may be...God offers support for when they aren't.

God dwells with us.  He is here for us.  Though we may and should pray for all manner of things, this is what he has promised to give us.  He has done all of this so that he might dwell with us.  He has saved us to be here with us.  And one day we will see his dwelling for ourselves.

“Look!(we will say) God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."  (Revelation 21:3)

Until that day comes, until the day when our eyes are opened and we see God dwelling among us, let all our prayers be prayers for God's presence that, somehow, we might see and know that the Comforter, the Creator, the Mighty God is standing, and sitting, and living right next to us.

Open my eyes, Lord, that I might see your presence, for that is what you have promised to give.  Amen.