Prayer for the election

I have been thinking about how the church has been praying for the election in the last couple of weeks. When McCain went down in the polls, the church finally started praying. I'm glad to see so many people praying but I wonder what the Lord's reaction to this prayer is. He has been calling us to pray and repent for a long time now but it was a call back to Him, not a call to pray for our circumstances. Yes, He wants us to ask him for what we need and turn to him in times of trouble. But much more than that, he wants our hearts. He is a bridegroom longing for his wedding day. How would any of us feel if the one we had chosen for our spouse had a cursory relationship with us until he/she needed something and then they came to us ardently, declaring their love and devotion and asking for what they wanted.

Recently I was reading in I Samuel 4-7. In that passage Israel loses a battle with the Philistiines so they go back and get the ark of the covenant saying "If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies." Well, they not only lost but the Philistines captured the ark. There are a lot of details between that point of the story and this but eventually the ark returns to Israel and the people "lamented after the Lord for twenty years" because it seemed that the Lord had abandoned them.

This reminds me of the church right now. It seems a little to me like we are saying, "Oh no! We're losing the battle! We'd better bring our fasting and praying into the battle with us so we can win!" Read Isaiah 58 to see what God thinks of that kind of fasting.

Back to our story in I Samuel. After twenty years of "lamenting after the Lord" Samuel says to the people, "If you are really serious about returning to the LORD, get rid of your foreign gods . . ." WHAT!!??? How can you 'lament after God' and still have idols in your house? See, they hadn't figured out that God wasn't a little idol you ask for things. He is the Uncreated, Holy One who had chosen them to be His bride!

So Samuel says, " . . . Determine to obey only the LORD; then he will rescue you. . . " So the Israelites destroyed their idols, gathered together, drew water from Mizpah and poured it out before the LORD, fasted, and confessed that they had sinned against the LORD. While they were at this gathering the Philistines saw an opportunity to get them all at one time and headed over to kill them. This time instead of arrogantly just grabbing their 'little ark', they were afraid and cried out "Plead with the LORD our God to save us from the Philistines!" So Samuel made a burnt offering sacrifice and pleaded to the LORD to help them and THE LORD ANSWERED miraculously! He sent a thunderous noise that threw the Philistines into confusion and the Israelistes pursued them, slaughtering them along the way!

I wonder if we will have to "lament after the LORD for twenty years" to realize that he is not an idol or a vending machine. He is passionate, holy, jealous. He wants our hearts. He wants us to live in fellowship with him that grows deeper because of a humble, hungry searching after him. From THAT place of prayer, he will answer with miracles.