Monday Meditation: How do I feel about his whole night of prayer?
Last time I searched for “prayer” at Amazon, I found 58 titles on the first of seven pages of products shown there. I didn’t bother to count all the rest, but it’s safe to say Amazon sells hundreds and hundreds of books on the subject. Daily prayers. Prayer journals. Prayer studies. Prayer guides. Children’s books about prayer. True stories of answered prayer.
At least four reasons explain why so much publishing about prayer.
1) The Bible advocates prayer.
2) People want to pray.
3) People need help praying.
4) People are frustrated with trying to pray.
I suppose all four have described me at one time or in some way. I often say, the older I get, the more I pray. And the more I pray, the less I understand about prayer.
After thinking about today’s story, I’ve decided maybe I just need to pray more. I’ve certainly never prayed all night.
I know a fellow who taught a seminary class on spiritual development, and his final exam was for students to spend two hours alone in prayer. I’ve certainly never prayed for two hours straight. Well, maybe I did once, but only then because a retreat leader expected it of everyone participating. It is memorable to me because it was so unusual.
Maybe I’ve never prayed so long because I never faced a decision as large as the one Jesus was anticipating. After praying all night, he chose the men who would learn of him then and tell of him later. This was no athletic team or corporate council. These men would soon make history and propagate a movement that has changed the world.
Some of them wrote significant parts of the New Testament, including two of the Gospels.
Eleven of them were among the first to see Jesus alive after his resurrection from the dead.
All of them became the first spokesmen for the gospel, the first witnesses to its reality, the chief link between his life and the creation of a fellowship that would live out his message in the coming generation. The spread of the gospel would be in the hands and voices and lifestyles of these men. Every believer reading these words today came to faith because of the long chain of truth-tellers that began with the faithfulness of these few.
It's hard to imagine a more important decision than this one or a more compelling reason to pray.
But what about our prayers?
Many of our decisions seem small or crude when compared to the choices Jesus was making. But I wonder, how long should a person pray before deciding which of their spouse’s clothes to give away because they’re no longer wearing them? How long before choosing whether to encourage them to eat supper or just let them skip it? How long before deciding whether to take them to a dinner with friends or Sunday-morning church or a grandchild’s school concert?
Some decisions are certainly bigger: Shall we move our loved one to a care facility? Which type? And most difficult of all, which one? If ever faced with a decision that big, will I pray all night before signing the contract?
Certainly I won’t if I’m not seeing how God responds when I pray over smaller decisions now. Before I think about praying all night—or even two hours—maybe I need to keep at my faltering attempts to pray for five or 15 or 30 minutes.
And whenever I think about praying I can remember this: You don’t pray all night out of guilt or compulsion or heroic duty. Jesus knew he needed prayer and how much he was nurtured by it. I can decide to stick with prayer because Jesus himself saw prayer as something he couldn’t skip.
Read: Luke 6:12-19
Pray: Thank you, Lord, for the example of Jesus whose pattern of praying challenges me to pray, too. Help me, Lord, with each decision I’m facing this week. I know you’re ready to help and guide.
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