August 5 – A Cause in Our Crisis (Psalm 74)

“Rise up, O God, and defend your cause.”(Psalm 74:22)

IN WORD:
When crisis first hits, it’s all about us. We wonder how we will be affected, how we can get out of it, how we will survive. But if we’re living God-centered lives, our prayers should turn quickly to a greater cause than the immediate impact on ourselves. Our prayers should be all about God and His purposes.
Many people assume that God’s and their own interests necessarily coincide. We cannot afford to make such assumptions. Often, the purpose of our crisis is to break us of such thoughtlessness. After our typically human reaction of obsessing about ourselves, we must realize God’s greater purposes — and we must get in line with them.
The writer of Psalm 74 knows the appropriate prayer agenda. By the time he gets to the end, his problem is not his; it is God’s. He is not bending God to comply with his own agenda; he has realized that he is part of God’s agenda to reveal Himself to this world. His crisis is not about the devastation in his life; it’s about the harm being done to God’s fame. He is no longer asking God to answer his prayers for personal reasons; he is asking Him to answer for kingdom reasons. There’s a world of difference.

IN DEED:
When you pray for God’s help, what is your motivation? If you’re average and normal, you pray for your own needs. There’s nothing biblically wrong with that. But there is a maturity that needs to develop. Biblical prayers must eventually fall in line with the biblical agenda: displaying the glory of God. There is no better way to gain victory in crisis than to shift our focus from our purposes to God’s. Our prayers must move from “Lord, defend my cause” to “Lord, defend your cause.” The cries for help that begin with our own desperation must end with a deep concern for the work of God and the reputation of His name. Our cause must give way to His. Our will must be shaped like His. Our ruins must be rebuilt for the glory of His name.

“To pray effectively, we must want what God wants.”
-A.W. Tozer-