ESCAPE FROM THE INSIPID

Last night I was staying up late surfing the 'net - usually a bad idea for me especially since my husband had already went to bed. But God was merciful, tremedously so. I was perusing a book about Jonathan Edwards online. I found it here. I had also left the TV on after the Braves won and the show Everybody Loves Raymond was on. The episode was about the wife's parents getting separated and I was kind of paying attention to it but mainly because of the stark contrast it offered between what they portrayed and what I was reading about Edward's life and family. As I read about Sarah Edwards, how she cared for her husband and 11 children while entertaining and taking in friends and missionaries, how one of their daughters responded to personal tragedy, how they lived out the Christian life, etc. all I could think of were these words -- insipid, vacuous, vapid, inane. O Lord how banal this culture is! How easily its poison enters my soul and makes me indifferent to sin and weak in prayer! Do you ever feel like not praying for people or things in the world that you know you should? You know you should be moved by these things, to pray deeply for them, and for God's glory to be known - but you just don't feel like it. I've had seasons like that for years. I had always wondered why. I think, for me, a lot of it has to do with the poisonous effect this culture has on my soul. I am distracted from the eternal by silly entertainments which promise some sort of soul satisfaction. What a lie!! Last night God was showing me this. So I got up and went to fill a container full of water at the refrigerator. This was a gallon container and the water comes out slowly from my water dispenser so I had time just to stand there. Right in front of my face was a sort of gallery of pictures. For the last two years I've put up pictures friends and family have sent us for Christmas. This has been a way for me to remember to pray for them. Suddenly I was deeply moved to pray for these people - relatives, friends and their children - and myself; confessing my sin of worldliness and pleading with God to give us all an eternal vision, the right priorities, to purify our hearts' affections. This is why I go through seasons of weak prayer I believe - my heart is dull, there's a cover, a film over it. My spirit has been numbed by exposing myself to and drinking of the world's inanities - and sometimes finding it entertaining. O Lord have mercy on me.

"O Lord, I long to transcend this culture with its banal, empty trivialities which so often capture my heart's attention. Incline my heart to You. May I love what You love. Cut away this film over my heart which clouds my affections. Have mercy. For the sake of the glory of Your name and according to Your everlasting lovingkindness shown in Christ, Amen."