MAYDAY! MAYDAY! -- Devotional for May 1, from "Good Seeds"

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (II Chronicles 7:14)

With spring oh so bloomy, it’s hard to stay gloomy! We don’t normally think of May Day, this first day in May, as a holiday, but President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first Thursday in May to be "The National Day of Prayer.” The Bible warns us not to be deceived by the pleasant and peaceful appearances of nature and society (I think of the naïveté expressed by the poet: “God’s in His heaven, all’s well with the world”). Once aware of the evil all around and within, we fall down to repent of our sin, and then get up to clean up our act. Nehemiah is our model: He saw the sin of Israel and claimed it as his own as he prayed on behalf of his countrymen (Nehemiah 1). Even as I revel in the sunshine of May, enjoy the scent of lilac and jasmine, and swoon at the short-lived beauty of delicate tulips and giant irises, I am not deceived into thinking all’s well with the world. So, as I enjoy this May Day, I also enjoin my Christian brothers and sisters to gather daily, especially a few days hence on the National Day of Prayer, to pray together for our families, our churches, our nation, and our world. Heavenly rescue is promised in response to our sincere and humble cry of…

MAYDAY! MAYDAY!
This is a time when we’re well into spring,
A time when the residents of earth like to sing.
Nevertheless, our desperate cries ring…
Mayday!

We say all is well in this part of the world.
With freedom unfettered, our flag is unfurled –
Still, from God’s own sincere prayer must be hurled…
Mayday! Mayday!

Just like a ship taking water, going down,
All of the passengers surely could drown –
A desperate SOS goes to the town…
Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

Once oh so godly, so sick now our nation;
Like countries before us, we face condemnation –
So humbly we cry out from this small prayer station…
Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

(poem by S.M)