August 2019
Many people would say that they don’t pray. But you do!
You might not pray to God but ‘pray’ doesn’t necessarily mean asking God
for something. It sounds archaic now,
but “I pray thee” was once a common way of saying ‘I beg you’ or ‘please’. To pray was to make an earnest request of someone.
You and I have things that we long for – health,
contentment, success in life, the appreciation of other people, certainty about
the future, and to be loved by someone who matters to us.
And, unless we are giving up in the depths of despair, we
all think that we know who or what is likely to give us these things – wife,
husband, parent, child, the government, a house improvement, an exam pass or a
new club joined. These are some of the
people or things we ‘pray’ to. We might
not speak any word of prayer to them but we have an expectation that they will
provide, we pin our hopes on them, we devote ourselves to them and we will be disappointed
if they let us down. Or, if we think we are
self-made, we will be angry at ourselves when we can’t answer our own prayers.
Who you pray to, or look to, reveals what you believe about
ultimate reality.
When someone prays to God in the name of Jesus, they are
denying that any of the things they long for come ultimately from the
government or another person. They are
acknowledging that nothing in this world will be the answer they seek. They are also denying that they can provide for
themselves what they most long for.
To pray like this is to reveal your conviction that the Father
of our Lord Jesus is the creator and source of every good thing and ultimately
the only one who can answer the prayer, and provide what you long for at the
deepest level.
The question to ask is not ‘Do you pray?’ but ‘Who or what
are you praying to, and can they deliver what you are hoping for?’
Sincerely
Graham
Burrows