For an Unbelieving People | A Prayer

We are not a people of easy trust.

Our vernacular is not embedded with belief,

And kept promises are a foreign culture.

Broken promises have been our lot;

Daddies who hurt,

Mommies who leave,

Friends who abandon.

Even we Christians can name our own;

Churches that split,

Pastors who keep secrets,

And others who don’t keep ours.

We are fragile and unready to believe.

Promise broken after promise broken,

Believing seems a fool’s pursuit.

But …

we have heard You called

the Promise Keeper.

And we’re desperately curious to know why.

We have heard of a promised heir lying on the altar,

And the sacrifice You provided instead.

Promise kept.

We have heard of a promised rescue of a believing whore,

Hanging on a scarlet chord from her window.

Promise kept.

We have heard of a promised land flowing with milk and honey,

And the desert worn path that led Your people home.

Promise kept.

And …

We have heard of another promise.

One we hardly dare whisper,

For fear it will slip from our lips with a shatter.

But it is a promise that You –

You, Yourself –

Will come.

And in the dark night of waiting,

Against our best logic and with our last shred of hope,

We whisper, “we believe.”