Chapter 4 of Genesis is one of the most disheartening chapters in the entire Bible. The first homicide. And no apparent remorse by the murderer. Then another killing. And this murderer brags about it and dares anyone to touch him. Here we also find the first instance of polygamy. And for the first time we read that a person left the LORD’s presence.
But at the close of this dismal chapter there shines a beam of light: Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD. (4:26)
What brought about this revival? this return to the LORD? Had people become sickened by the putrid stench of their sin? Did Seth’s son Enosh play some pivotal role? Was he God’s prophet to beckon sinners to Himself?
We only know it was a break from the past: Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.
All these millennia later, these words lend us a fresh boldness in prayer:
Father, we pray for our children and grandchildren. That they would “begin to call on the name of the Lord” with greater fervency, passion, and intensity. That You would be their focus—their only focus. That You would initiate any and every necessary event in their lives to bring about the “then” and cause them to “begin” again at a deeper level than ever before.
Lord, we pray for ourselves also. For renewed vigor, determination, and stick-to-it-iveness in “calling upon the name of the Lord.” For deliverance from spiritual mediocrity. For decisive action on Your part to correct deficiencies, resistance, or rebellion.
And we pray for our church family, too. That we not become comfortable and complacent before You. That we not allow sin to remain unconfessed and unforsaken. That Your Holy Spirit be not grieved by unwholesome or unedifying speech, or bitterness or slander or malice. That our leaders would be exemplary in righteousness.
And we ask for our nation as well. That You would bring about a “then” in our day. That You would precipitate a “began.” That You would give our nation a sense of their great loss in not having a relationship with the one, true, sovereign, redeemer-God. That many would be introduced to “the name of the Lord.” And that, trembling before Your holiness, “men would begin to call upon the name of the Lord.” That in Your mercy and by Your limitless grace, You would invite us and turn us again to “call on the name of the Lord.”
May the Lord bless us as we call upon His name.