Pull a chair for God

A man’s daughter had called a priest to pray over her sick and ageing father. When the priest visited the home, seeing an empty chair by the cot of the old man, the priest queried, “Did you expect me home that you kept an empty chair for me?” The old man told the priest in private something that his daughter never knew, “This chair was not for you.

I always found it difficult to pray and so an old friend of mine asked me to place a chair next to me and just imagine God on the chair and talk to him as I would talk to someone sitting by my side.

So, whenever I am alone, I would place a chair by my side and pray with great satisfaction.” The priest was greatly impressed. He prayed over the old man and left.

A month later, the man’s daughter called the priest again with the sad news that her father just passed away. When the priest visited the home, the girl informed the priest of a strange thing she saw.

She said, “Just a few moments before daddy died, he kissed me and then leaned over an empty chair by his cot and breathe his last.” Tears welled up in the eyes of the priest for he knew how close and how much the man leaned on God.

Our dependence and relationship with God must be as personal, as real and as natural as we would depend and relate to a dear friend or loved one. When we get too preoccupied saying prayers instead of praying, we lose out on an experience of closeness with God. When we recite our prayers, we remind ourselves of our relationship with him and our obligation to God. But when we pray, we cultivate an intimacy with God.
We must say our prayers but we must also pray. “We can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. And if we know he is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for.” (1 John 5:14)

Our lives can sometimes be so clustered with relationships and with conversations that we don’t find time to talk to God and for him to talk to us. Give God a chair and allow Him to speak.

The Lord says, “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3). “The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him sincerely. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them.” (Psalm 145:18-19)
So, when life’s burdens weigh heavily on you, give God a chair. You can always lean on Him.