Readings for today: Numbers 28:16-29:40, Luke 3:23-38, Psalms 62, Proverbs 11:18-19
I am learning how to pray. For almost twenty-five years, I’ve been following the same prayer routine. I make lists. I journal. I read devotional books. I listen to music. All in a monumental effort to stay focused as I talk to God. It’s been hard. There are so many things on my mind. My wife. My children. My family. My friends. The needs of my church family. Missionaries I love serving overseas. The problems in our country today. My thoughts go a million different directions so prayer is hard for me. Always has been.
Last fall, I was interviewing an Ethiopian pastor. He’s probably twenty years old. Maybe a 7th grade education. He’s risking his life to bring the gospel to a village almost one hundred kilometers from his home. I asked him how he prayed. He talked about his walks to and from the village where he serves. He talked about the silence. The solitude. And how God speaks to him during his travel time. I cannot imagine the burdens this man carries. Burdens for his family. His friends. The people he serves. The poverty they live with every day. The struggle for food and water and medical care. And yet prayer is as natural to him as breathing.
So I asked this man to teach me to pray. He encouraged me to spend far less time on my lists. Stop the journaling. Put aside the books. Turn off the music. He encouraged me to rise early before the sun comes up and just sit silently with God. Let my thoughts run loose until they run out of steam. Sit in solitude until the voices in my head subside enough for me to hear the still, small voice of God.
“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” (Psalms 62:1-8)
So I am learning to pray. Since my trip to Ethiopia last fall, I have been rising early. Getting up before the sun. Praying over my family before I leave the house. Heading up to the church where I sit silently in the sanctuary with my Lord. I let my thoughts go. I’ve learned to stop trying so hard to focus. After about thirty to forty-five minutes, I find my mind starts to clear. God starts to speak. Scripture begins to fill my head and heart. And I begin to walk the pews. Praying over each seat. Praying over the people who sit in those seats every Sunday. (Yes, I know our “seating chart...” ha!) Praying through the Scriptures God has brought to mind. The peace that comes over me is profound. It carries me through the rest of my day.
What does your prayer life look like? Is it hard for you like it is for me? Does it look like that of the Psalmist? Or my Ethiopian friend? Or does your prayer life look more like what mine has been? What would it look like to truly engage God on His terms? To wait for Him in silence and solitude? Does that even seem possible in the midst of your busy life? Let me encourage you to start small. Five or ten minutes in the morning before anyone gets up. At night after everyone goes to bed. Perhaps on your lunch break. Stay away from your tech. Put aside any distractions. Just you and God. Spend as much time as you need before Him until your mind clears, your heart calms, and you begin to hear His voice.
Readings for tomorrow: Numbers 30-31, Luke 4:1-30, Psalms 63, Proverbs 11:20-21