Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.  Genesis 4:26b (NKJV)

Every new year I begin reading my Bible all over again.  The excitement of Jesus reigning in Revelations during December is replaced with the beginning of the world in Genesis during my January readings.

I follow the history of creation and the birth of mankind.  I cringe as Adam and Eve give in to the serpent in the garden,  hiding from God in the bushes. I imagine how hard it must have been to be the first parents with boys fighting and one kills the other (Cain and Abel).  I rejoice when God gives Adam and Eve another son, Seth, to heal their hurting hearts.

And then I come across this amazing verse:  “Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.”  (Genesis 4:26b).  Adam and Eve already spoke to God when they were hiding in the garden.  Cain also talked back to God when he questioned, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  (Genesis 4:9). Yet at this point, people began lifting their pleas to Him. They were calling on the name of the Lord.

I wonder what those early prayers were like?  We’re they frantic yells, “Help me, God!”  We’re they more poetic like the Psalmists in the Old Testament, who poured out their hearts https://www.wnymedical.com/buy-accutane-acne/ along https://xanaxcost.com with their cries?  Just this morning I was reading one of those Psalms, Psalm 17, and it gave me just the right words to cry out to Jesus:

Hear a just cause, O Lord,
Attend to my cry;
Give ear to my prayer which is not from deceitful lips.
Let my vindication come from Your presence;
Let Your eyes look on the things that are upright.  Psalm 17:1-2 (NKJV)

Another favorite cry of my heart is…

Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  Psalm 61:1-2 (NKJV)

Aren’t you glad that people began calling on the Name of the Lord so long ago, leaving us God’s Word as an example so we can call on Him, too?  We can share our hurting hearts and happy moments and anything we want with Jesus.  He is always there to listen.  Thank you, dear God, for your invention of PRAYER!

Today’s TEA CUPP:  When did prayer begin for you? Thank God for that moment when you first heard His voice and answered Him.  Give Jesus the glory for the prayers He has answered in your life.