In relation to God we are always in a position of response. We go wrong, therefore, when we imagine ourselves to be the initiator of the relationship. Prayer is not an act of invocation. You are not invoking God, he is invoking you. You come to him, because he first came to you. I often speak to Christians who feel discouraged in prayer because God didn’t seem to ‘turn up’. It is as though prayer is an appointment we get to first only to be ‘stood up’ by God. But we are the ones who must ‘turn up’. God is present for us. The problem is invariably that we are not present for him. We suffer from a kind of existential absence, like Adam and Eve hiding from their creator behind created things (Genesis 3:8). To be present means to present ourselves to God in a way that acknowledges him as God. It is “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1). Any other approach is one of refusal, even enmity to God. God is not somewhere else that you should have to invoke him to come to you. His presence is all around you and within you; he is actively upholding your very being by his power. If there is distance, it is not spatial distance, but relational distance on your part. So, God invokes you today to surrender to his divine power and love, to receive his grace and goodness and participate in his glorious purpose. Present yourself to him.
Acknowledge God’s presence and offer yourself to him today.
Read Psalm 97
