Devotions based on David Benner’s book, Opening to God

“We do not pray so we can get God’s attention. We pray so that God will get our attention.”  How important it is to be attentive to God so that His love will be a reality in our lives. Sometimes we may feel like God is absent but really it is we who are absent from Him. The author uses the illustration of a light bulb and how we know that when we turn a switch on that we have light because of the electric current. But that doesn’t mean that the power was around only when we turned on the switch. Behind and beneath everything and every moment is God. David had a great awareness of God and writes in Ps. 5 “To you I pray, Yahweh. At daybreak you hear my voice; at daybreak I lay my case before you and fix my eyes on you.”  David trusts that God is already listening for his voice and watching for him. Prayer starts with God who leans towards us and invites us to respond with openness. Let us pay attention to Him. For our spiritual lives will be no deeper than our capacity to pay attention.