I don't feel like my thoughts are very well organized this morning (no SOAP today!), but I have a lot of them. When I started reading, the end of verse 1 stood out to me. ...they ought to pray and not to lose heart. As I finished my reading and reviewed that phrase, the words of Psalm 43:5 jumped to the front of my mind (Yay for memorized verses that stick!). Put your hope in God for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. The main thought for me: We are to bring our concerns to God. That is the best way to actively put our faith in Him for that situation. The bonus to that is that it is a form of worship and brings honor to God as well.
I have listened to many sermons and opinions on prayer in the past year. There are many good thoughts shared, but some are misleading. One of those thoughts was that we pray to align our hearts with God's. While I think that this is true, I think it denies the reality that God wants to hear our thoughts and concerns and that our words do change His actions, as this passage describes. God wants to be honored with our trust, and He responds with the love of a Father.
One last somewhat random thought: I believe we need to be careful how and what we pray. We need to seek God's heart in each situation and not fight for our own will and plan through prayer. I suspect that God sometimes allows us to have our own way, even when it is not best, so that we will learn... just like a father.
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