“9 ‘You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea.10 You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day.” NIV

The wonderful Bishop Ryle noted that: ‘Simple, regular reading of our Bibles is the grand secret of establishment in the faith.’ So thank you for coming with me on this daily journey through the Scriptures.

Throughout this prayer, we will hear repeated references to what God did in Israel’s history. We can encourage ourselves with the realisation that what the Lord did He still can do. Indeed, He still does, for He is always the same – eternally unchanged and unchanging.

  • He still sees ‘’the suffering’’. Not just the statistics, but the actual suffering. He knows and He cares about the individual, personal pain;
  • He still hears cries-the heartfelt prayers of His people;
  • He still sends ‘’signs and wonders’’. Though the suffering may be long and hard, things can change. God can end it in His own good time.

I will say more about this in the next piece I write, but I believe there needs to come upon the church in these dark, difficult days we’re all going through, a sense that we are not to just resignedly accept the situation as unchangeable. ‘Things can change.’ Yes, the outlook is gloomy. Certainly it seems to be so over the short to medium term. But people of prayer have a different perspective, and I will have more to say on this.

Yesterday I saw a brief clip of R.T. Kendall speaking on ‘Facebook.’ He said he believes the current state of the church may be likened to the ‘’foolish virgins’’ in Jesus’ parable (Mt.25:5). We are sleeping, he said, and you don’t know you’re asleep until you wake up!

PRAYER: Lord, may we, your church, not be sleeping through this pandemic. Rather, cause our spirits to rise up in fervent prayer