THE BEGINNING OF PRAYER / GENESIS 4:26

After a couple of years off I started last week teaching Wednesday night Bible study again.  I missed the discipline of studying God’s Word.  Oh I read the Word on a daily basis but there is a difference in reading and studying.  But that’s not why I’m writing this.  

I want to take the Bible studies that I am presenting on Wednesday night and compact them, consolidate them and  form them into an arrangement such that you may get the honey without having to rob the hive.   

Let me quickly offer the disclaimer that this, as most of my writings, are not my exclusive ideas.  Much of what I say and write is drawn from the wells of great writers like Jim Cymbala, E.M. Bounds, and others.  This is only my version. With that said, let’s get to it.  

Any of us who have read and studied the Word are familiar with the story of the creation of Adam and Eve.  We can easily name their two sons Cain and Able.  We have been awestruck as we read how Cain, because of his unacceptable gift was made to hate his brother and kill him.  But how many of us can recall even name of Adam and Eve’s third son?  

In the 4^th chapter of Genesis, we are introduced to the son that God gave Adam and Eve to replace Able.  His name was Seth.  Now if you study the Word you will see that Cain, after the killing of his  brother was cast out and he and his decedents became ungodly people,  not doing the will of God and doing their own thing and going their own way.  But Seth then was given to be the son who would follow the Creator God and serve Him.

In Genesis 4:26 we are given a small, simple little statement that usually goes unnoticed as we read our way through those first years of man’s existence on this earth.  However, some have said that it is one of, if not the most powerful moments in the history of man.  It starts out simple enough. It simply mentions how God gave to Seth a son who was named Enos but then look what it has to say. 

                “…Then men begin to call on the name of The Lord”.

 Up until that point and time in history men and women had recognized God as the creator God.  The God who created everything and managed everything.  But then, at a certain time and place, we don’t know exactly what day it was, or where it happened on the map, we don’t know what caused it to happen, but at some point, “men begin to call on the name of The Lord”.   

Something caused them to do this.  It might have been the death of a child or a spouse.  It might have been that the crops were bad or the land was flooding.  It might have been that a neighbor was giving them a hard time or that someone was sick.  We simply don’t know what caused this occurrence but at some point and time for some reason, men begin to call out to The Lord.    

When I teach First Responder classes and EMT classes I instruct my students that most of the time the average citizen will not call 911 for some simple little thing that happens in their life.  But when they do call 911 they expect someone to arrive to help them do something that they themselves cannot do. They are looking for a hero.  That is exactly what Seth and Enos and their families did at this point in time in history.  Whatever it was that was facing them at that time, they realized that they could not handle it and that they needed a Lord, a God who could.  And so they cried out to Him for help.  

They cried to a Lord who was omnipresent (everywhere all at once), omniscience (all knowing) and omnipotent (all powerful) and may I add my own “omni” word, He was all-loving.  He loved and cared for them more than anyone else could ever love or care for them.  

Folks I hope it doesn’t take something awful to happen in your life before you come to that “place”.  I hope that you will use common sense and the leading of the Holy Spirit to convict your heart and “call out” to this Lord who is the only one who can save you and help you.   

My first point then in this little lesson is to recognize that “The Lord, He is God. Someone said it this way, “You must realize that there is a God and it ain’t you.” Until He is your Lord and your God you cannot call on Him for help.  

I will make my second point quickly.  Notice that they “called out” 

Calling out here is not a simple request.  It is not a “if you please, Sir” moment.  It is a desperate, passionate, fervent cry.  It is a cry that is sincere, a cry that is frantic, the cry of a drowning man.  

Just suppose that someone was trapped in a two story burning building.  He struggles to reach the telephone.  As the heavy black smoke cuts off his breath, he desperately dials 911. 

“Help, my house is on fire and I’m trapped in the upstairs bedroom” he screams into the phone.  “The fire department is on the way” the dispatcher replies.  “But wait” the man says, “I’ve just planted new grass on my lawn. Tell them not to drive that big truck over that newly planted grass.  And I know the door downstairs is locked.  Ask them not to break down the door, please, it cost lots of money” 

Foolish right?  But don’t we do the same thing.  “God help my son.  God help my daughter.  Lord be with our church……but do it my way,”  Our prayers are not desperate.  Our request are not fervent.  It is only when we realize that we are calling out to a God who is the only one able to answer our prayers and our cry is desperate that we can expect an answer and help from Him.   

So just to sum up; my two points are: 

1. Recognize that The Lord is the one who can and will send the help you need.  It is He that is able and willing and the only one who can do it. 

2.  Call out to Him.  Don’t dilly-dally around and try to use the right words and sound holy and proper.  Get serious about what you want and what you are asking.  Get specific in what you want God to accomplish for you. 

That’s what Seth and Enos did when they came to that place in their lives.  And whether it’s the first time you have prayed or just once in a lifetime of prayers follow that guideline and know that He will not fail to answer when we call on Him.