O is for Observation / P is for Prayer

O is for ObservationA to Z Challenge

Observation: an act of recognizing and noting a fact or occurrence; to be aware of one’s surroundings; to listen and pay attention; to see, watch, recognize details, to collect information through one’s senses

It seems today, we have lost the art of using our brains when told something or even when looking at something. We no longer observe. Instead we absorb. Time to reawaken those observation skills that engage our reason and thinking. Yes, think and weigh the evidence presented to us. Is it logical? Does it make sense? Are we truly open to where the evidence leads?  

Here are a few websites to challenge you to be an engaged observer.

Observation Techniques 

The Christian Observer

The HolyObserver

P is for PrayerA to Z Challenge

Prayer: Talking to God from your heart; 

Prayer has an effect not only on the person praying, but God affects things and events because we pray. How do I know? I look at what God Himself says He does when we pray as in this example of His response to Hezekiah's prayer.

          Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.”

          Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.’ This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him….

           ‘Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, “He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. …‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

          Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. From 2 Kings19

There are different approaches to prayer, different techniques to help us. Here are a few approaches.

The Lord's Prayer, a model

The 5 finger prayer

Prayer Cards

Thanks for visiting,

Maria

Join us for Call2Fall

The Call2Fall is nothing fancy.  It is simple.  On Sunday, June 29, 2014, let's get on our knees and faces before the Lord in repentant prayer, pleading with God to reshape our lives, renew our land, and send times of refreshing (See 2 Chronicles 7:14; Acts 3:19).

Join us in living out the Call2Fall Declaration and preparing our hearts for Sunday, June 29th.   

You can find out more on the Call2Fall Website.  Can we ever pray enough for our nation?  Spread the word.

Call2Fall

  

Call2Fall

More Puritan Prayer

In my last post, I mentioned that I have recently become enamored with Puritan Prayer through the introduction of my pastor.  Here are two more of the Puritan Prayers I found so very compelling.  I hope they bless you as they did me.

                                     Spiritual Helps

Eternal Father, it is amazing love, that You have sent Your Son to suffer in my stead, that You have added the Spirit to teach, comfort, guide, that You have allowed the ministry of angels to wall me round; all heaven subserves the welfare of a poor worm.  Permit Your unseen servants to be ever active on my behalf, and to rejoice when grace expands in me. Suffer them never to rest until my conflict is over, and I stand victorious on salvation's shore.

Grant that my proneness to evil, deadness to good, resistance to Your Spirit's motions, may never provoke You to abandon me. May my hard heart awake Your pity, not Your wrath, And if the enemy gets an advantage through my corruption, let it be seen that heaven is mightier than hell, that those for me are greater than those against me. Arise to my help in richness of covenant blessings, keep me feeding in the pastures of Your strengthening Word, searching Scripture to find You there.

If my waywardness is visited with a scourge, enable me to receive correction meekly, to bless the reproving hand, to discern the motive of rebuke, to respond promptly, and do the first work. Let all Your fatherly dealings make me a partaker of Your holiness. Grant that in every fall I may sink lower on my knees, and that when I rise it may be to loftier heights of devotion. May my every cross be sanctified, every loss be gain, every denial a spiritual advantage, every dark day a light of the Holy Spirit, every night of trial a song. 

                               The Valley of Vision

Lord,
high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord,
in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine;
let me find Thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty,
Thy glory in my valley.


I decided I had to purchase the book, The Valley of Vision which stirred my passion for these prayers. These cause me to delight even more in my God.
                                                                                 God bless, Maria

Discovering the Power of Puritan Prayers

Recently my pastor shared a Puritan prayer in church from a little book called The Valley of Vision.  It so blessed me that I asked if he would email me a copy of the prayer.

"Here Maria.  Why don't you borrow the book for a couple weeks?"

Reading some of these prayers, I have been so profoundly moved.  Several I have copied to share with family and friends.  I searched on the web to see if I could find easier versions to email and I found Puritan Prayers which replicate many of the prayers from my pastor's little book.   I hope to  commit some of them to memory.  I want to learn to pray like this from my heart, to pour my heart out with the depth of appreciation these godly folks had for their state and the awesomeness of God, His love, and His grace.  I want to pray like this.

Portrait of the Founding Fathers at the signing in the Capitol Rotunda

As God would have it, in the midst of contemplating the place of prayer in my life, I was privileged to take a tour of the US Capitol exploring our spiritual roots with the Center of Christian Statesmanship.  One of our guides, Congressman Forbes of Virginia, pointed out the place of prayer in our country's history and its transformative power before the birth of our nation.  Again my heart was pricked as I considered what greater role I should be giving to prayer for my nation. 

Today we don't give nearly the time and devotion to God in our prayers that was true of our Christian predecessors.  They would spend hours in prayer to our minutes, and it made a difference in their lives and their purposes, because they aligned their lives and purposes with God's meta-purpose.  Though I try to keep a prayerful stance, praying continually, I don't spend the devoted time in contemplative and repentive prayer that I believe I should.  Puritan prayers like these in this little book come from a heart that has been bathed in the presence of God in prayer and time in the Word of God.  I don't believe it flows from a few minutes, but from practiced Christian Discipline.

Now it's good to pray for whatever time you do.  However, as I read the prayers of these humble saints, I long for more of God.  God was so gracious to have these prayers committed to paper so that we could glimpse what beauty awaits us if we will pour our hearts out to the Lord and let Him fill us up.  How glorious we become in our contriteness because in our weakness, He is strong.

Here is the prayer that started me on this journey.

Valley of Vision: The Precious Blood
The Banner of Truth Trust ^ | 1978 | Arthur Bennett

 

Blessed Lord Jesus,

Before thy cross I kneel and see

the heinousness of my sin,

my iniquity that caused thee to be

‘made a curse’,

the evil that excites the severity

of divine wrath.

Show me the enormity of my guilt by

the crown of thorns,

the pierced hands and feet,

the bruised body,

the dying cries.

Thy blood is the blood of incarnate God,

its worth infinite, its value beyond all thought.

Infinite must be the evil and guilt

that demands such a price.

Sin is my malady, my monster, my foe, my viper,

born in my birth,

alive in my life,

strong in my character,

dominating my faculties,

following me as a shadow,

intermingling with my every thought,

my chain that holds me captive in the

empire of my soul.

Sinner that I am, why should the sun give me light,

the air supply breath,

the earth bear my tread,

its fruits nourish me,

its creatures subserve my ends?

Yet thy compassions yearn over me,

thy heart hastens to my rescue,

thy love endured my curse,

thy mercy bore my deserved stripes.

Let me walk humbly in the lowest depths

of humiliation,

bathed in thy blood,

tender of conscience,

triumphing gloriously as an heir of salvation.

A version of this prayer has been committed to song and can be heard at Sovereign Grace Music.  You can listen to or purchase the song or the album on this website.

                                                                              God bless, Maria

P is for Purpose

We all have purpose.  Tied to my purpose are p words :  passion, prayer, peace, praise, and being the person God created me to be.  

This is Good Friday, the day we Christians mark the death of Jesus Christ.    On Easter Sunday, we Christians celebrate His resurrection from the dead.  My ultimate purpose is to point to Him, our Lord and Savior.  

A to Z Challenge

 

C is for Christ

He lives! 

Christ came to bring deliverance, freedom, life abundant.  He claims to be “the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)  That’s difficult to grasp and can’t be completely understood, but it is worth taking the time to consider because if it is true, if He is who He claims to be, God incarnate, then what you do with Christ makes all the difference in your world. 

So let your eyes gaze upon Jesus.  I used to wonder what it meant to keep your eyes on the Lord.  I mean, isn’t being a good Christian about believing Jesus died for my sins and rose again to give me eternal life and then living the good moral life set forth in the Bible.  However, the longer I live the committed Christian life, the better I come to understand how its all about keeping my eyes on Christ.

Jesus Christ is central to the Christian faith.  Unlike other religions, Christianity can’t be separated from its founder, Jesus Christ.  Who He is and what you do with Jesus is what makes Christianity what it is.  You can’t take Christ out of Christianity and still have Christianity.  If you take other founders out of their religions, leaving only with their teachings, their religions could still function.  They are separate from what they taught.  Christ is integral to what He taught.  For the Christian, if Jesus isn’t who He says He was, the religion falls apart.  One could still live according to some of the moral principles He taught.  In fact a lot of people do just that without embracing Christ for who He claimed to be.  That isn’t Christianity though.  Christianity demands confronting Christ.

You see, as C.S. Lewis and other renowned thinkers have put it, Jesus was either liar, lunatic, or the real deal, God incarnate.  He can’t be just a good teacher, just a prophet, just a great guy.  He doesn’t leave that option open to us.  He claimed to be God.  He claimed to be the answer to man’s sin problem.  He made claims that don’t leave those other titles as possibilities.  What would you say to someone who claimed to be God if he wasn’t?   You see if Jesus wasn’t God, as He claimed to be, he was either deluded, or He knew He wasn’t God and He aimed to delude. 

As I spend time reading my Bible, praying, meditating on what I read, considering divergent thoughts and analysis, and conversing with skeptics, questioners, and those who have studied this in depth, as I consider the evidence for and against each of these propositions, deluded, deluder, truth, I am convinced of Jesus Christ’s authenticity as the Son of God.  His claims best fit the evidence and reality.  Christianity is not blind faith, but reasoned faith, yet faith none the less.  We can’t prove who Jesus Christ is, but we can, if we examine the evidence carefully, come to a reasoned conclusion to feed a confident faith.

Yes, Jesus was a great teacher.  He was a prophet and a good man.  He fulfilled many roles.  However, Jesus is so much more.  He was and is the Christ.  And if that is the case, does it make reasonable sense to ignore Him or treat Him as just one choice among many?  He doesn’t leave us that option either.  If His words are true and He says there is only one way to find the way to eternal life, shouldn’t we pay attention?  If He is God incarnate, then He has the answers to life’s big questions and other answers are just wrong.  If you have a disease that will kill you, you want the right medicine.  The wrong medicine won’t solve your problem.  Neither will the wrong belief solve a problem for which only Christ is the solution.

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to [the Father] who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.  For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.  Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”                                Hebrews 3:1-6  

If Jesus Christ is who He says He is, and the evidence certainly points in that direction, can you afford not to consider Him and what He had to say?  Consider Jesus Christ.  Even better, discover the delight:  the deliverance, the freedom, the life-abundant in knowing Him.

…“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2  

Recreation in Christian Meditation

A to Z Challenge:  R is for Recreate in Rest

Recreation has come to mean having fun, often if not usually actively, and often involves vacationing with lots of activities.  It is not uncommon to need a vacation after a vacation because not much recreating has gone on, that is renewing, reviving, or restoring, in busy vacations.  

I remember an acronym for busy:

Bound

Under

Satan’s

Yolk.

We human beings are designed to need recreating rest daily in sleep, weekly from our toils, and regularly throughout the year to reconnect with who we are and detoxify from the pollution of life.  Without this kind of recreation, we become weary, worn, and warped.

So what is a better form of recreation?  Richard Foster in his book Celebration of Discipline discusses the recreating power of meditation, noting that the significant difference between Eastern meditation and Christian meditation is the difference between emptying and filling.  

Eastern meditation stresses the need to become detached from the world, emptying oneself, losing one’s individual personhood to merge with the Cosmic Mind, as one does is seeking the Nirvana, the extinction of desire and individual consciousness.  There is no personal God to be attached to.  The goal is to be free from burdens and pains of the reality of life.  Detachment is the ultimate goal.  

Christian meditation, on the other hand, goes beyond detachment to emphasize an attachment to God.  Rather than having us withdraw from the world, it redirects us to be able to deal with life.  We are not led to be ethereal to our humanity, but rather we are empowered to be more fully compassionate in our humanity.  Through communion and communication with the God who loves us and wants us to dwell in His omnipresence, we are filled with His love to be recreated for loving others. 

Jesus took time to be alone with God to be renewed, to pray, to be quiet, to rest.  I wonder what He might think of our modern version of recreating.  I am not against having rip-roaring fun.  That has its place.  However, if the only recreation we know is at the frenetic pace of busy and we don’t rest contemplatively to recreate, we lose more than we gain.  We miss out on something profoundly rejuvenating and fulfilling, a recreation we were made for, and we settle for tired, tattered, and twisted.

A to Z Challenge

A to Z Challenge: M is for Mom

A to Z Challenge:  M is for Mom

My mom went home to be with the Lord on February 14th, 2009 two days before her birthday.  I can’t believe it has been that long.  When she died, she left me matriarch of the family as the oldest child of 6.  That position within the family continues to seem strange to me.  Not that it has much significance really, but just knowing it is enough.

I have been especially missing my mom of late, needing her matriarchal wisdom.  More than a few times I so longed to pick up the phone to talk with her.  There are things I could cry on Mom’s shoulder about that if shared with someone else might be gossip.  I need to talk with her about hurts and hardships that to someone else would be complaining.  Oh Mom, I miss you.  Who else is like you to lean on?

Something about talking with Mom is (was) a natural pain reliever.  She could lovingly listen, sympathetically understand, and wisely guide me to peace and forgiveness.  Now, I sip coffee with her in the mornings in the cup that reminds me of her.  It had been a gift to her, a special cup, with a reminder round the rim, “Praying for you always.”  And I have a feeling she still is, right there before the throne of God.

Lord, thank you for giving me a mom who loved and cared for me, who was a living example of what it means to love and live for You.  Thank you for the memories I am able to cherish.  I pray I can be that kind of mom to my children as they continue along their life journey as well.  Grow me into the praying woman my mom was, grow me into all You want me to be, as Mom, the family matriarch, child of God.  Thank You that I can always lean on You.

A to Z Challenge

Quiet Time with my Lord

I am again participating in Five Minute Friday on Sunday.  Oh well.  

Today's prompt is 'QUIET'.  Here goes:

“Amazing grace, How Sweet the Sound...”  My alarm breaks the silence of the sleeping household.  I turn it off and again it is quiet.  Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I rise slowly and plod to the bathroom for my usual morning routine.  Dressed for the gym, I descend the stairs to feed the cat and dog who wait in eager anticipation, the mewing of the cat now breaking the quietude.  

Then, with coffee now in hand, I sit ready for the quality quiet time so necessary for me to be who I desire to be this day and every day, the follower of Christ bathed in the necessary time with my God.  Oh how I need this time.  No one else is up.  It is just me and my God.  Sometimes I feel His presence and sometimes I just know He is with me, though the feelings I must wait to follow the knowing.  Always He is meeting me and growing in me what I need.  Quiet time with my Lord, the most precious time, makes all other times all the more precious as well.

(Five minutes up.)

Finding quiet is not always easy but it is oh so necessary... for my sanity.  It is oh so necessary for my well-being  It is oh so necessary for me to walk in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord.  I need that time of quiet with my God, and I highly recommend it for all who desire the peace of God.  A world of delight opens before the one who will seek delight in the Lord.

I Will Praise Him in This Storm

I will praise Him in this storm, for He is my refuge and my strength, a very present help in trouble.  God is sovereign.  Whom shall I fear?  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.  To whom else shall I turn?  There is great joy and comfort in the Lord.  In Him alone will I seek my treasure.  He is my Rock and my salvation.  In the midst of any storm, I am safe in the cleft of the Rock.

A Storm over Liberty

And what does the Lord require of me?

“He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:8

We can rejoice in the God of our salvation and know that whatever He determines, He does to fulfill kingdom purposes.  If we align ourselves with His kingdom purposes, then whatever happens, we can look to Him for the answers and for the questions.  Lord, what do you want me to learn in this storm?  Lord, where do you want me, us to go from here?  What’s next Lord? 

As we seek Him, His wisdom, His knowledge, we can then get excited about the answers and direction He provides.  No matter what is happening in the world around us or in our own little microcosm of that world, He is with us.  He is leading.  He is in control.  Yes, we can praise Him in this storm as we walk humbly with our God and greet Him with gratitude.

Part of my devotional this morning was Isaiah 12:

Isaiah 12

  

Thanksgiving Expressed 

Then you will say on that day,
“I will give thanks to You, O Lord;
For although You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
And You comfort me.

“Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For the Lord God is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.”

Therefore you will joyously draw water
From the springs of salvation.

And in that day you will say,
“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name.
Make known His deeds among the peoples;
Make them remember that His name is exalted.”

Praise the Lord in song, for He has done excellent things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.

Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

The Lord knew I would read this today. The Lord knew I would need this today.  The Lord knows His plans, and they are far above mine.  I will praise Him in this storm.

"

A Simple Truth of Life

Why is it so hard to grasp the simple truths of life, so much so that we let them slip through our fingers like water.  These truths should be drunk in like living water, but instead we fill up on pop which gets us farther away from holding onto the essential.

Relationships are essential.  We were made for relationship, yet relationships DO take effort and time and some grasping.  We don’t often grasp this simple truth as we let other things, pop, take priority.  The ‘pop’ of life can be all sorts of glitz and glamor, fun and exciting and time consuming.  

How often do we ignore our little girl who just wants to talk in favor of the email that calls for our immediate response?  How often does the tv drama take precedence over an intimate conversation with our spouse?  How often does an entertainment of some sort or an important task crowd out our prayer time with God?

Lord, help me grasp the simple truth that my relationships are of greater value that most anything I may put before them. 

Practicing Good Statesmanship

United States Capitol

Have you heard about the fanatics, mostly Christian, who planned a revolution against the government? 

Ride Out Depression

photo source

Dealing with depression is like being out in the sea without a boat and no sign of land.  It seems to be never ending all around you without hope of escape or rescue. 

Focus - A Personal Pep-Talk

Five Minute Friday prompt:  Focus.

Philippians 4:8

Focus.  I know your feelings are hurt, but focus on what’s important.  Get out of your own way, and focus on what’s important.

Five Minute Friday - Good Morning, Lord.

This weeks Prompt at Five-minute Friday is Connect.

Good morning, Lord.  Thank you for this day.  Thank you for granting me another day to walk in this world with You and to be a conduit of Your love here to my family and the world around me.

Confessions of a Chronic Multi-Tasker

I am a multi-tasker.  Even when I am relaxing I have to be doing at least one other thing to make the best use of my time.  So taking time just to be be alone with the Lord can be a challenge for me.  Because I so need that rest with Him, I do notice if I have missed my quality, devoted, quiet time each day alone with God.  I don’t have a problem praying while driving or listening to sermons in the car, but taking that time in the morning to do nothing else but commune with God, that singleness of purpose both stretches me and relieves me simultaneously.

Give ear to my words, O Lord; 

Consider my groaning.

Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God,

For to You I pray.

In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;

In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. Psalm 5:1-3

Living the busy American lifestyle that we do, especially in the greater metropolitan Washington area, I find myself feeling overwhelmed by the torrent of what must be done more often than I like to admit.  So, I like the efficiency of doing phone business while walking, eating meals while cleaning up, folding clothes or working on the computer while watching tv.  I think I can more successfully reach the shore of ‘isle complete’ if I bail out my boat while simultaneously rowing in the midst of the deluge of so much to do.  

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have  relieved me in my distress;
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. Psalm 4:1

Nothing wrong with multi-tasking.  However, like so many things in life, it is a strength and a weakness.  It can help one be more efficient and more effective, but it can also can cause one to miss some very important facets of life.  If I don’t stop work on my computer while talking with my daughter, if I am taking phone calls or responding to every text message while meeting with a friend, if I am working through my sudoku puzzle while having breakfast with my husband, am I giving any of them the attention they or I need?  Sometimes multi-tasking does not stem the tide of flood overwhelm at all, but rather adds to it.  In fact the rain and reign of ‘to do’s’ can fill the boat faster than I can empty on a regular basis. 

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

And lead me in the everlasting way.  Psalm 139:23-24

I don’t need a special label like ADD to experience the distractibility of a thousand things to think about or to do.  With so much going on about us and within us seemingly non-stop, is it any wonder that there is difficulty shutting down, getting sleep, having peace.  Restlessness rather than restfulness is the product of multi-tasking overload. 

 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

Praying without ceasing, also a Biblical principle (1 Thessalonians 5:17), is so important as we go through the day and is multi-tasking at its best.  I do want to thank the Lord for the parking spot I just got close to the door or far from it;  I want to pray for the unfriendly cashier who needs some Holy Spirit intervention.  I want to seek the Lord throughout the day to stay connected to the power and peace that only comes from Him.

Seek the Lord and His strength;

Seek His face continually. Psalm 105:4                                              

The only way for that power and peace to be there for me to draw from, however, is if I am being completely immersed in prayer and the Word with Him regularly.  And I am learning also how perhaps my church worship has been marred by not truly preparing my heart before hand or being fully engaged as I think of those within church with whom I have business.  By the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I began joining in the prayer group before church.  How I have seen a significant difference in my whole-hearted attention to the Lord and the richness of my worship with this little change.

Make me understand the way of Your precepts, So I will meditate on Your wonders.  Psalm 119: 28

As a chronic multi-tasker, the singleness of focus, especially with God is essential to my well-being on a number of levels.  For a number of years, the Lord has been teaching me the importance of stopping and centering on Him, investing myself in my devotional time, my worship, my prayers without accomplishing anything else.  There is nothing else that sets me free, nothing else that empowers, nothing else that provides the peace that passes understanding.  It is in the exclusivity of devoted time with my God that I find all of this and the delight of my heart.

Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found;

Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.  Psalm 32:6