Date: 16-02-25
Preacher: Ss Ruth Moh
Title: Praying Unceasingly during dark times
Praying Unceasingly during dark times
As chair I received the slides from the translator, Sister Sheue Horng, earlier in the week and I counted 24 in all. I thought that was quite a lot but having read through them I couldn’t make much of the message. It was when I heard the message in its entirety that I felt the slides were dried bones and Sister Ruth had breathed life into them. And what a life!
The biblical reference for her message was Ps 88 which was most likely authored by a man named Heman and perhaps it is the darkest psalm in the entire Book of Psalms. Her lead-in told the life of the famous Moody’s mother after his father’s passing. The family was mired in debts and his mother was left to care for 9 children including Moody. She turned to God who not only comforted her with Jeremiah 49: 11 and if you were to read about the way she cared for all her 9 children in scarcity you would be astounded.
Sister Ruth then shared 3 main points when we cry out unceasingly in our prayers like Heman did.
1. Come before God in prayer by faith
Hence, despite ‘being in the face of darkness, dwelling in the depths, feeling of drowning, imprisonment and even death’ we are to come in prayer by faith. Sister Ruth then shared a testimony of her youngest son who, in 2019, was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. Her family had a practice where they would draw bible verses from a pack and what was drawn would signify your need and so all in the family would then pray for that need. Her son drew the same verse Ps 119:50 thrice not on the same day but on different occasions. It is God’s reassurance to her son that His word had given him life.
2. Tell God the true feelings of your heart
This is an important step in spiritual revival: complete transparency. Here Sister Ruth shared Ps 88:3-5 and 6-8 where Heman bared his ‘soul’ to God. The good sister also shared a personal testimony that she was diagnosed with hypertension at age 30 and she was concerned with premature death as her youngest child then was only 8. She visited the doctor 3 times because of her condition and God would direct her to Ps 102:24, the same number of times like in her son’s situation.
3. Hold on to God’s attributes, pray, and wait
While Ps 88:10-12 seem to suggest negotiating with God, nothing is further from the truth. It is the cries of one desperate to hold on to God’s attributes and not only that but to continue to pray and wait. Sister Ruth shared another testimony of her son who is not academically inclined and as a result people would say hurtful things to her. She continued her prayers with others who supported her and when the O Level results were released his son did well enough to gain a place to study at a polytechnic.
Sister Ruth then shared the life of Joseph Scriven, the one who composed ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’. Joseph himself had his fair share of misfortune having lost
a woman he loved and was about to marry. Then it happened again. If we were to look at the lyrics of the song he composed, he was a great advocate of praying unceasingly during dark times. In conclusion Sister Ruth mentioned that although Ps 88 did not seem to end on a positive note, we are reminded of God’s sovereignty in the Bible. She quoted 1 King 8:12.
