I stopped singing in the middle of a hymn in church a few weeks ago.

Come, my soul, thy suit prepare:
Jesus loves to answer prayer;
He Himself has bid thee pray,
Therefore will not say thee nay;
Therefore will not say thee nay.

Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much;
None can ever ask too much.

There were a few verses after that, but when I sang the part about large petitions, I stopped.  Something had touched a place in my heart that I hadn’t been to in a while.

The place where I hide my large petitions.

God was asking me why I haven’t brought those big needs before Him lately.  And I really didn’t have an answer.  Maybe deep inside I didn’t think He’d answer after all these years.  Maybe I had just gotten weary of asking.  Maybe I really did think they were “too much”.

But when God stops you in the middle of church, He’s trying to tell you something.  And as odd as it was to just stand there with my hymnal in my hand while others around me kept singing, it was a really good moment.  God was speaking.  To me.

He was reminding me that nothing is too big to bring before Him.  He was reminding me that He is the King, and that is exactly why the largest of petitions belong right there at His feet.

I had to do a little research to find out what “prepare thy suit” means.  In the old English it means “an appeal made to a person of superior rank or status or the act of making such a petition”.

Jesus wants my petitions.  Even the large ones.

Maybe even especially the large ones.

(from “Come My Soul Thy Suit Prepare” by John Newton, 1779)

Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3

For what great nation is there that has God is so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?  Deuteronomy 4:7

It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.  Isaiah 65:24

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  John 14:13