Prayer and Cats

        

          My cat has the tendency to wake me up early in the morning. She walks on the bed and then runs across my body with all of her 9.9 pounds of energy. She is persistent and if she decides I should get up at 4:00 AM, then I better get up. I try to ignore the nudging and jumping but soon, I am awake anyway and might as well get up. We have our schedules and try to stick to them as much as we can. We are used to doing things a certain way and to have that way interrupted doesn't sit well with us. How much would you be willing to disrupt your schedule to meet with God? I recently read where Hudson Taylor, the missionary to China many years ago, would find it necessary to get up at 2:00 AM in order to spend time alone with God without being interrupted by the business of life. Psalm 5:3 says, “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” 

          The Psalmist mentions that he will “direct” his prayer to God and that he will look up. The directing of the prayer has the meaning of placing in order as does a person who is preparing a sacrifice as he lays the wood in an orderly fashion for the fire. We always had a certain way to stack wood when we were getting ready to build a fire. Whether it was large or small, the wood was stacked so that the flames would go evenly and consume it all. You can't just throw a handful of wood in a haphazard fashion and expect it to burn. Each piece must be arranged to ignite each other and the combined effort produces the fire for the sacrifice. The Psalmist uses this word to describe his prayer to God. The primitive meaning of the word was “to set in a row.” We do a lot of “haphazard” praying and that is fine. I often pray when a need comes to mind and at my age, it might come here and there as I go through life. There are those times, however, when we should be having our “appointment” with God when there is a time set for communion with Him in the business of prayer. When you go through the Psalms, you find out that people prayed at almost all times of the day, not just in the morning. Mornings are good, because your day hasn't got underway yet and you can focus more attention on your time with God before the hustle and bustle of the day begins. I had one professor that referred to morning prayer this way. “You get a cat and don't get a litter box. When the cat wants to go out, you get up and let the cat out of the door to do its business. As you wait for the cat to return, you spend the time in prayer. Then, when the cat returns you can let it in and return to your own affairs.” So, instead of me being aggravated with my cat for waking me up early in the morning, perhaps I should use the time alone to commune with God before the day begins. When you find yourself in situations where you ask yourself what you should be doing at that moment, perhaps you should be praying. Praise God today that He desires to commune with us in prayer.