Before What?

 

 

 

Before what?

Sounds like a strange title

But, given all I hear from time to time,

I too am having a struggle.

 

You would be amazed

What this query has to do with

But by the time that I am finished

I hope you catch my drift.

 

It has to do with prayer;

Quite surprised, aren’t you?

It is about what I hear people say

And also, what I see them do.

 

Especially persons I know

That are given to much prayer

And, I’ve no intention to knock them

For I can see they really care.

 

Beautiful Christians they are

Always reaching out to others

But they often appear to panic a little

When things become a bother.

 

 

Prayer could avert a lot

If only they get to God on time

So, “let us give God a heads-up”

Could well be on their mind.

 

One popular song suggests

Jesus might not be looking below

But if so, it’s worse now than then

And surely that he would know.

 

All the more reason, you see

To hurriedly hasten to God

For rather than being in my country

He might have gone abroad.

 

So before worse happens

I must get to him in a hurry

For there is a chance that if I don’t

I may have reason to be sorry.

 

Before it gets worse in Barbados:

All this shooting and killing,

Let’s get down on or knees

And let’s do some serious praying.

 

Suggesting to you and me

Some praying may not be serious,

No wonder when I hear some pray

They come over as delirious.

 

Frantic, excited and even mad

That’s how it sometimes appears,

Yes, before something worse happens,

We need to get in some prayers.

 

 

“Before what” is really a blank

That the one who is praying knows:

It is that situation or challenge

That insinuates oncoming woe.

 

Hence the need to pray it away

As in the death of a loved one

And sometimes after we have prayed

We learn the loved one is gone.

 

Now, I am not knocking prayer

Or even the ones that pray

However, I believe in being calm

And keeping panic at bay.

 

God sees what we see and more

And I mean everything below

And He is not relying on our prayers

As though He doesn’t know.

 

For God knows everything

About us and the world around

And unlike leaders on their pedestals,

He does not need to come down.

 

With Him is no “before what”;

God knows what’s before and after

And He doesn’t need information

To set His divine charter.

  

For He has already done that

And at His word it all became fact,

And concerning the promises He made

He is never ever slack.

 

“Before what” matters not to God,

It matters not at all

And what should matter most to us

Is that we are among the called.

 

Remember, I’m not knocking prayer

Or even those that pray

But we need not panic at any time

As long as we are of the way.

 

One “before what” matters, however,

And this is the last that I will say:

Before night comes we need to work

So, get engage whilst it is day.

 

Stewart Russell © September 25, 2022