Tag: visual prayer

Posted in visual prayer

Put it on the scale

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Those of low estate are but a breath;
    those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
    they are together lighter than a breath. (Psalm 62:9 ESV)

Mortal men are only a breath,
even important men a delusion.
When they are weighed the scales rise;
they are altogether less than a vapor. (Ps. 62:9 AAT)

There have been times at the airport when we cut it really close as we put our luggage to be checked on the scale. If it weighs an ounce over fifty pounds, you have to pay a hefty added fee for that bag. I’ve put a forty-nine point something on that scale and breathed a sigh of relief! I’ve also watched people franticly toss items from a fifty-two pound suitcase, desperately trying to lighten their load.

I often overestimate the weight of what someone has done, could do, or might do. I’ll stay awake at night fretting about what someone has said, what I fear they will do, or hypothesize a worst-case scenario. I’m convinced that I’m going to have to pay the price for their criticism, abandonment, negativity, accusation or failure. Those things always seem so heavy! This psalmist has a cure for such sleeplessness: put it on the scale.

Put it on a scale to see how it compares to God’s power, grace, mercy, forgiveness and promises. Go ahead, try it. No matter who they are or what they’ve done or what they might do, the scale rises on their side. Next to everything God is, does and says, they are “lighter than a breath” or “less than a vapor.”

I just love that image. I will add it to my collection of visual prayers. Whoever is antagonizing me, I will just prayerfully put it on a scale opposite my Lord. Suddenly, it’s not so heavy. It’s virtually weightless!

And I can rest in Him.

Posted in prayer

Visual prayers

Posted on by William Douthwaite

rodion-kutsaev-57037-unsplash
Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

Yesterday I made reference to a couple of things that I pictured in my mind as I was praying before preaching. I never thought much of it before, but some of my favorite prayers are visual prayers. Rather than words spoken out loud or in my mind or written on a page, some of my prayers are just images.

One from yesterday was being doused with a cooler full of ice water, like the winning coach after a football game. I used that image in a sermon about baptism, that that image reminds me that I’m a baptized child of God.

Another was having blood sprinkled on me. When announcing God’s covenant to the people, Moses slaughtered a bull, threw half the blood on the altar and the other half on the people. That was their way of shaking hands on a deal. I picture myself being spattered with blood, the blood of Christ the cleanses me from sin.

Sometimes I remember Nehemiah’s supervision of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after God’s people returned from exile. Each person was given a part of the wall to work on. So I’ll picture a wall being repaired and ask, “What part of the wall do you want me to work on today, Lord?” In other words, what task should I focus on today? It’s also a good reminder that I don’t have to build the whole wall myself!

I also love the image of riding shotgun with Jesus. I shout, “Shotgun,” jump in the driver’s side and ask Jesus (who’s at the wheel), “So where are we going today?” It’s a question that makes perfect sense to me if I think of myself as a follower.

When I am praying with someone who is close to death, I picture Jesus just on the other side of this reality, waiting to welcome them. It makes my spine tingle just to think about that.

I’ll have to go back through my journals and dig up a few more. Who knows, maybe this will end up being one of the books I’ll write.