Our Sure Foundation

"Come to him, the living Stone...a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 1 Peter 2:4a, 6b

The text arrived just as I entered our church sanctuary last Sunday morning for the early worship service. I didn't look at it until I settled into my seat. The organ prelude had already begun as I glanced at our Special Ones Director's text that, among other things read, "They are back in the hospital. Please pray."

The text's "they" referred to a special needs 14-year old daughter and her Mom who now live in Colorado. Over the last several months the young girl's heart condition has quickly deteriorated from a heart arrhythmia requiring a pacemaker to advanced heart failure. The child's heart is so weak that her only hope is a heart transplant. In the meantime, the little girl wears an infusion pump and continuous IV medication to try and help strengthen her failing heart. My own heart sank with the news. This family isn't just a special needs family on the other side of the country. The little girl's grandfather was our church's missions pastor for over thirty years before he died. I helped give a bridal shower for the child's mom when she married. And through the years I've kept up with the family's growth and journey as two of their three children were diagnosed with special needs. I know how hard life with one special needs child can be and can't imagine trying to raise two. Through it all, the mom has blogged. Her writing is always real, raw, and redemptive.

I prayed a quick prayer begging God to do what we could not: heal the child, comfort her parents, and surround them all with His peace and presence. Most of all, I prayed for a new heart, not just for Little (the child's nickname) but for me as well. My heart was heavy and sad Sunday morning, not just for sick children, but also for the brokenness around me: an increasingly divided country; angry, noisy, and constant rhetoric; and a culture bent on self-destruction. The organ prelude continued as I texted my friend "weeping and praying." I opened our worship bulletin and saw that the first hymn listed was "Christ is Made the Sure Foundation." I couldn't remember singing it before, but I was sure the hymn must be related to our pastor's sermon: Foundations 1 Peter 2:4-10.

The congregation made our way through the choir's opening hymn and the pastoral invocation. I prayed for Little and her family as our pastor prayed for us. Suddenly it was time to sing Christ is Made Our Sure Foundation. Our pastor mentioned that the lyrics were written in 600 AD. That was over 1400 years ago. No wonder I wasn't familiar with the hymn! I mainly listened on the first verse, but tried to sing along on the second verse:

    To this temple, where we call you

    Come, O Lord of hosts, and stay;

    Come with all your lovingkindness.

    Hear your people as they pray;

    And your fullest benediction

    Shed within these walls today.

Honestly, once I read the "hear your people as they pray" line, I literally lost it. I couldn't sing another word, but just clung to the "hear your people as they pray" line. God met me at my point of greatest need, not with a word from his Word, but with a hymn whose lyrics were written 1400 years ago. It was a reminder that while the needs of God's people never change, neither does God's Word and His Spirit. God knows where we are, what we need, and when we need it. And He has all of His resources available to meet, not just my needs, but also the needs of friends separated by time and distance. 

"Hear your people as they pray" is a prayer that God loves, not only to hear, but also to answer. Our job is to cry out to God; His job is to hear and answer according to His will. The Apostle John acknowledged this principle when he penned these words 2000 years ago: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." (1 John 5:14)

Wherever we are today, "Lord, hear your people as we pray!"