Why Amen Is Not Just a Word, It’s a Lifestyle

The Glorious Table is delighted to welcome Beth Guckenberger, author of multiple books including the recent Start with Amen: How I Learned to Surrender by Keeping the End in Mind, to the table today with a special mid-week devotional.

Have you ever wasted time worrying about something that ended up working out just fine? I have! I’ve worried about traffic not moving fast enough, kids not behaving “right” enough, I’ve worried about health, car payments, and should-I-have-said-that?  Like a hamster on a wheel, worry runs around our head, stealing our peace and using sideways emotional energy that could be better spent.

God invites us into an entirely different spiritual rhythm where worry is absent and spiritual confidence can soar.  He’s given us a tool for living and when we use it well, we can rest in him, regardless of what’s going on around us. It’s simply the word, “amen.”  It means literally, “so be it,” and when I whisper it at the start of my prayers, instead of the end, all that follows (confessions, requests, and observations) sit under this declaration that God is sovereign and can be trusted.

Amen. So be it. You heal her body. I’ll trust you in this, dear Jesus.

Amen. You sell the house. In your timing, dear Jesus.

 I learned about this tool in the silliest of storylines.

Ten years ago while I was living as a missionary in Mexico, my purse was stolen out of my car.  It was a purse I felt self-conscious about owning, a purple suede Coach bag I impulsively bought on a trip to the Texas border.  It represented a life I thought I was missing, and after it was stolen, I punished myself by using my daughter’s purse, vowing I would never again purchase something so impractical.

I flew to the States a few weeks later for a speaking engagement and had an hour before I had to be at the church. I felt ridiculous carrying a child’s purse, so I searched a nearby strip mall for a new one.

I found a cool leather backpack, part practical for the lifestyle I was living and part beautiful, with its deep brown leather. This seemed a happy medium.  As I carried it to the counter to pay, my eyes went wide at the price, and I muttered, “No, thank you,” leaving the store. I pulled into the place where I was meeting the others, and told the Lord I understood my roots.  I knew he didn’t value or care about purses, and neither would I.

Later that evening, I headed to stay at my mom’s house. I’d had a birthday since I was last there, and there was a package from my college friend, who had remembered my birthday. I thought fondly of her as I opened the box. My hands went straight to my mouth when I saw what was inside.

It was the leather backpack purse I considered buying just hours before. Exact. Same. One. A flood of thoughts came over me as I held it.

God picked this out for me before I wanted it today?

I was so sure he didn’t care about designer purses. I had spent a month disciplining my thoughts so I wouldn’t grieve something as silly as a purse. Yet here he was, reintroducing me to himself all over again. I care about everything you care about, he seemed to say.

That night, before I fell asleep, I thought about all the wasted time I had spent wringing my hands over something God already had in the works to redeem. What if when I didn’t like what was happening (a lost purse, broken relationships, poor health, unexpected bills) I prayed in anticipation of the Lord’s hand, confident of his sovereignty? What if instead of second-guessing him, my prayers sounded more like . . . Amen. So be it. This happened. I’m yours. Change my heart. Take captive my thoughts. All I have is in your hands. Dear Jesus?

That night, I committed to Jesus that I would rest in the God of Amen.  I would trust that no matter how he unfolded the chapters of my life, I would relax in the midst of stories I didn’t understand or even like, and believe he was at work.

It’s long been a sign off in a prayer, a word whispered to say goodbye, but now I found myself saying it through the day and at the start of my conversations with him. Amen.  If I prayed no other word again, this would be enough.

It has become a lifestyle that’s created a deep breath in a world that wants me to be constantly panting. It stretches spiritual muscles and clears the mind. Amen. This person, this circumstance, this concern… it’s all yours, dear Jesus.

Amen. He’s got this.

Scripture for Reflection

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV)

Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.  (Nehemiah 8:6)

Reach for More

Write down a prayer on a piece of paper or in your journal, starting with the first word, “Amen.” Then list all you normally wonder about, have to confess, want him to move in . . . Leave it all in his hands as you close with his name, “dear Jesus.”  Then tell someone in your life about how you’ve prayed and what it has meant to you.

Beth Guckenberger is a gifted writer. She has written seven books all of which are based in storytelling and draw from her vast field experience as a missionary, Bible teacher, and parent. Her most recent book is Start With Amen: How I Learned to Surrender by Keeping the End in Mind. She has a unique way of unpacking the deep truths of Scripture in a way that helps you truly connect with what God is saying. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her family and husband, Todd, where they serve as co-executive directors of Back2Back Ministries—an international orphan care ministry serving abandoned, orphaned and impoverished children in Mexico, Nigeria, India and Haiti. She graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Education and shortly after, the Guckenbergers moved to Monterrey, Mexico where they resided for fifteen years.

Photograph © Redd Angelo, used with permission