Knot Your Problem

Daily Reading: Isaiah 37

Scripture Focus: Lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. (Isaiah 37.4)

Devotional Thought: My friend, Don, was in a hard place.  He was a retail store manager, and the economy was in a downturn.  His store was rumored to be closing.  Each week as he left church, I would ask him, "How's it going, Don?"  He would answer me, "I'm hanging on."  One morning, he said, "Pastor, I've tied a knot in the end of the rope."  At first I didn't understand what he meant.  Then the light came on; he was at the end of his rope and barely hanging on.  We prayed a lot in those days.

King Hezekiah had reached the end of his rope, too.  Jerusalem was under siege and defeat appeared certain: "This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace" (v 3).  Hezekiah tied a knot in the end of his rope.  That knot was prayer.  He sent word to his 'pastor,' Isaiah: "It may be that the Lord your God will hear ... therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left" (v. 4).

Prayer is the knot in the end of our ropes, isn't it?  That's a good thing.  It worked for Hezekiah: "Thus says the Lord: 'Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard ... I will make him fall by the sword in his own land'" (vv. 6-7).  We read at the end of the chapter that that is exactly what happened.

Oh, and it worked for my friend Don, too.  In less than six months he had gotten a better-paying position in a brand new store that was opening up in town. 

So, when you reach the end of your rope, pray!  Knot your problem!

Prayer: Lord, I have reached the end of my rope.  I cry to you with the Psalmist, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy."  Amen.  (Psalm 51.1)

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 65.9-13

9 You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.

10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.

11 You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,

13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.