When There is No Way
Today this passage spoke with me very powerfully. And I want to encourage you to spend time and read this, as you may feel and remember how wonderful and miraculous God, our Lord is. I was troubled by burdens, challenges and things to witness in the coming months. And I needed this. I exactly found what God wanted me to know in the midst of this all. And here it is, may God speak to you. Let this passage be a gentle reminder of all the great and miraculous things God has done in your life and let it also fuel you with the much needed faith that our Lord Jesus is still the same, with the same mighty and power in Him to do the same great miracles in our lives. If you are standing with me without a way, without a miracle, let me remind you that our God is that way we are looking for and Jesus is that miracle that we are expecting.
May God bless you.
The People’s Prayer
“Blessed be your wonderful name.
It is more wonderful than all blessing and praise.
6 You are the only Lord.
You made the heavens, even the highest heavens,
with all the stars.
You made the earth and everything on it,
the seas and everything in them;
you give life to everything.
The heavenly army worships you.
7 “You are the Lord,
the God who chose Abram
and brought him out of Ur in Babylonia
and named him Abraham.
8 You found him faithful to you,
so you made an agreement with him
to give his descendants the land of the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites,
Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites.
You have kept your promise,
because you do what is right.
9 “You saw our ancestors suffering in Egypt
and heard them cry out at the Red Sea.
10 You did signs and miracles against the king of Egypt,
and against all his officers and all his people,
because you knew how proud they were.
You became as famous as you are today.
11 You divided the sea in front of our ancestors;
they walked through on dry ground.
But you threw the people chasing them into the deep water,
like a stone thrown into mighty waters.
12 You led our ancestors with a pillar of cloud by day
and with a pillar of fire at night.
It lit the way
they were supposed to go.
13 You came down to Mount Sinai
and spoke from heaven to our ancestors.
You gave them fair rules and true teachings,
good orders and commands.
14 You told them about your holy Sabbath
and gave them commands, orders, and teachings
through your servant Moses.
15 When they were hungry, you gave them bread from heaven.
When they were thirsty, you brought them water from the rock.
You told them to enter and take over
the land you had promised to give them.
16 “But our ancestors were proud and stubborn
and did not obey your commands.
17 They refused to listen;
they forgot the miracles you did for them.
So they became stubborn and turned against you,
choosing a leader to take them back to slavery.
But you are a forgiving God.
You are kind and full of mercy.
You do not become angry quickly, and you have great love.
So you did not leave them.
18 Our ancestors even made an idol of a calf for themselves.
They said, ‘This is your god, Israel,
who brought you up out of Egypt.’
They spoke against you.
19 “You have great mercy,
so you did not leave them in the desert.
The pillar of cloud guided them by day,
and the pillar of fire led them at night,
lighting the way they were to go.
20 You gave your good Spirit to teach them.
You gave them manna to eat
and water when they were thirsty.
21 You took care of them for forty years in the desert;
they needed nothing.
Their clothes did not wear out,
and their feet did not swell.
22 “You gave them kingdoms and nations;
you gave them more land.
They took over the country of Sihon king of Heshbon
and the country of Og king of Bashan.
23 You made their children as many as the stars in the sky,
and you brought them into the land
that you told their ancestors to enter and take over.
24 So their children went into the land and took over.
The Canaanites lived there, but you defeated them for our ancestors.
You handed over to them the Canaanites, their kings, and the people of the land.
Our ancestors could do what they wanted with them.
25 They captured strong, walled cities and fertile land.
They took over houses full of good things,
wells that were already dug,
vineyards, olive trees, and many fruit trees.
They ate until they were full and grew fat;
they enjoyed your great goodness.
26 “But they were disobedient and turned against you
and ignored your teachings.
Your prophets warned them to come back to you,
but they killed those prophets
and spoke against you.
27 So you handed them over to their enemies,
and their enemies treated them badly.
But in this time of trouble our ancestors cried out to you,
and you heard from heaven.
You had great mercy
and gave them saviors who saved them from the power of their enemies.
28 But as soon as they had rest,
they again did what was evil.
So you left them to their enemies
who ruled over them.
When they cried out to you again,
you heard from heaven.
Because of your mercy, you saved them again and again.
29 You warned them to return to your teachings,
but they were proud and did not obey your commands.
If someone obeys your laws, he will live,
but they sinned against your laws.
They were stubborn, unwilling, and disobedient.
30 You were patient with them for many years
and warned them by your Spirit through the prophets,
but they did not pay attention.
So you handed them over to other countries.
31 But because your mercy is great, you did not kill them all or leave them.
You are a kind and merciful God.
32 “And so, our God, you are the great and mighty and wonderful God.
You keep your agreement of love.
Do not let all our trouble seem unimportant to you.
This trouble has come to us, to our kings and our leaders,
to our priests and prophets,
to our ancestors and all your people
from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.
33 You have been fair in everything that has happened to us;
you have been loyal, but we have been wicked.
34 Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors did not obey your teachings;
they did not pay attention to the commands and warnings you gave them.
35 Even when our ancestors were living in their kingdom,
enjoying all the good things you had given them,
enjoying the land that was fertile and full of room,
they did not stop their evil ways.
36 “Look, we are slaves today
in the land you gave our ancestors.
They were to enjoy its fruit and its good things,
but look, we are slaves here.
37 The land’s great harvest belongs to the kings you have put over us
because of our sins.
Those kings rule over us and our cattle as they please,
so we are in much trouble.
