1 Peter 5:5–7

A prayer to be said
When the world has gotten you down,
And you feel rotten,
And you’re too doggone tired to pray,
And you’re in a big hurry,
And besides you’re mad at everybody...
Help.

There it was in front of me. One of those posters. Some are funny. Some are clever. Others, beautiful. A few, thought-provoking. This one? Convicting. God really wanted me to get the message. He nudged me up at Mount Hermon in northern California when I first read it in an administrator’s office. He slapped me hard at a spot in Newport Beach when I ran into it again. While moving faster than a speeding bullet through a publishing firm in Portland, I came face-to-face with it again, silent as light but twice as bright...smashing me down and pinning me to the mat for the full count.

“My son, slow down. Cool it. Admit your needs.”

All of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (1 Peter 5:5–7)

Such good counsel. But tough to carry out. Why? Because we’re too proud to admit our need. Too self-reliant to acknowledge we don’t have what it takes to solve the problem. So, we race ahead, furiously attempting to manage and cobble life together—all the while bringing misery and strife to everyone around us. Just stop it! Grow up! Drop to your knees and ask God for His divine assistance. Do it today. Do it now. Say it with me: H-E-L-P.

---

Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.