God of wisdom, as our prayer hymn says, you do extend your loving hand to wrestlers like us as we face the troubled seas of life, troubled seas like how to respond to a complex situation, deciding on a family matter, weighing the options related to a health issue, rethinking our long-held beliefs in light of new perspectives and understandings.
O God, just as you spoke to Jacob when he wrestled all night with you, and Jesus who prayed all night to you in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the early church in the Book of Acts as they disagreed with each other on so many important issues in light of their new faith in Jesus, speak to us as well. Humble us and open our hearts and minds to hear you speak a fresh word to us.
We lift up to you the many people who are on our hearts and minds this day who are in need of your wisdom in the decisions they need to make. We pray for those who are on our prayer list in whatever they may be facing. We pray for our young people in school and their decisions about the future. We pray for the people we see walking down the sidewalks of Blythewood or Five Points in Columbia, that they would listen to your wisdom calling out to them even along the busy streets.
And we pray that we would hear your wisdom calling out to us whether here in a church pew on a Sunday morning or when walking through a parking lot on a Thursday afternoon. O Lord, speak to us that we might speak in living echoes of thy tone.
In this presidential election year when the voices become even louder, angrier, and divisive, grant to each one of us the openness to hear your word of wisdom above all the other noise till our very hearts overflow in kindling thought and glowing word.
We pray this in the name of Jesus who calls out to us to pray these words that he has taught us to say together…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
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