Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Wednesday, 07 July 2021 11:55

God Can Put the Letters Together
by Terry Broome

A little shepherd boy was watching his sheep one Sunday morning. As he heard the bells ringing for the people to come to the church, he watched them and began to think that he too would like to communicate with God. “But what can I say?” he thought. He had never learned a prayer. On bended knee, he began to recite the alphabet — “A…. B…… C…… D,” and so on until he reached Z, and then repeated his “prayer” several times.
A man passing by heard the boy’s voice, and stopping to look through the bushes, saw the child kneeling with folded hands and closed eyes, saying, “J…. K…. L…. M…..” He interrupted the boy by asking, “What are you doing, my little friend?” The boy replied, “I was praying, Sir.” Surprised, the man said, “But why are you reciting the alphabet?”
The boy explained, “I don’t know any prayers, Sir. But I want God to take care of me and help me to care for the sheep. So, I thought if I said all I knew, He could put the letters together and spell all that I want to say and should say.” The man smiled and said, “Bless your heart, You’re right, God will!” Then he went on to church, knowing he had already heard the finest sermon he could possibly hear that day.

Remember that Jesus told us to have faith like a child. When we go to God in prayer, we mustn’t worry whether we know the right things to say. God can put the thoughts and feelings together and send the answer that we need – even when we don’t know what we need. Friends, the Bible assures us that even though we don’t understand it, God is mindful of us. David said in Psalms 8, verses 4 and 5: “What is man that thou are mindful of him” and yet he concludes that God is mindful and has “crowned him with glory and honour.”

I may not know what to say to God. I may not have my problems figured out. I may not know what I need to be asking God for, but thank the Lord that he knows the alphabet of my scrambled thoughts and hurts, and thank the Lord he can put the words together and answer my needs. I know down deep in my heart that in times like these, we have an anchor of hope for our prayers: “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;” (Hebrews 6:19). Remember this great Christian hymn:

In times like these, you need an anchor.
In times like these you need a savior.
Be very sure … Be very sure …
Your anchor holds, and grips the solid rock.
This rock is Jesus, yes He’s the one,
This rock is Jesus, the only one.
Be very sure … Be very sure….
Your anchor holds, and grips the solid rock.
The author can be reached for comments at 256-574-2489.