The Counter-Intuitive Power of Prayer
In reading through my Bible, just where I find myself both in the old and new testaments, I noticed something. They both remind us of the power of prayer!
In I Samuel, Samuel is giving his farewell address to the Israelites. He is reminding them of all that God had done for them since bringing them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. The miracles their fathers saw! But they forgot the Lord and so He let their enemies have control over them. Then they cried out to God and He sent deliverers: judges who delivered them and led them to walk with God. And they would then live in safety after being delivered from their enemies on every side.
But when they saw that Nahosh king of the Ammonites was moving against them, they said: “’No, we want a king to rule over us’- even though the Lord your God was your king.” (I Samuel 12:12b)
Here is the first problem with most of us: we are focused on what we can see. But God is a Spirit, and we cannot see Him. So, we look at our problem, decide that it is big and scary, and that we need to figure something out fast. Ourselves. And we do not go to God! Ok. I know I did that: when my marriage was falling apart, in the beginning, did I pray about it? A little. Not much, if I am being honest. I mostly ‘leaned on my own understanding’. (And that is a terrible thing to do, because our human thinking is under attack by our enemy who is devoted to our destruction.) Our problem may be a big one: either a sickness, or a sin of someone against me, a sin of my own making, or a natural disaster, or the death of someone we love. For me it was my marriage and ‘what to do about someone else’s drinking problem?’. So, in my case, much like the Israelites, I proceeded to try to figure things out myself. Only it did not work. And not only did it not work, I ended up going down a path that was wrong because I simply ‘gave up’. I felt that God had abandoned me, and so I walked away too! That went on for a few years until I had tried everything but God to fill the God-shaped vacuum in my heart! And that is when I really began to pray.
So, back to the Israelites: Samuel is now making the Israelites realize what an evil they have done in asking for a king. They have rejected God as their king! And Samuel asks God to confirm this by sending thunder and rain right now. Right now, during the wheat harvest. Right now, and it has never rained at this time before!
So, Samuel calls upon the Lord who sends thunder and rain that same day.
“So, all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.” (I Samuel 12:18b)
Now is when they realize what they have done, and they are afraid. They realize that they have added a new sin to all their other sins. And Samuel comforts them with these words: ““Do not be afraid”, Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil, yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you because they are useless. For the sake of His great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart: consider what great things He has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.” (I Samuel 12:20-25)
My first thought when I read this passage was: me too!! I have done those things too! I added to all my other sins when I sinned against the Lord at a time when I ‘should have known better’! But I see hope. When Samuel says, ‘you have done all this evil, yet keep walking with God’, he is saying yes, you did those things. But they do not have to define you! That is not who you are. Return to God and He will return to you. Also, I love that last sentence: yet, if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away. We do not have to give up and persist in doing evil! We can stop sinning, stop doing evil, and God will accept us.
But back to prayer. Prayer: Samuel said that it would be a sin against God for him NOT to pray for them! We need to be in prayer for each other. We need to keep praying and not give up. I know that when I had walked away from God that people were praying for me. For us. I do not even know who all might have been praying, but prayer is God’s love language. Our prayers are a fragrant aroma to God: “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand.” (Rev 8:3,4). And there is power in prayer. People’s lives are changed when we pray.
So, while this is still in my mind, I turn to my New Testament reading for today: II Corinthians 1. It is talking about the trials that the apostle Paul and the other disciples were going through: they were under great pressure, far beyond their ability to endure, so that they despaired even of life! “Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened so that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.” (I Cor 1:9-11)
Wow. My situation was not like Paul’s, but it was hopeless! By worldly standards. The world says: just give up and start over. And before I began to pray, I was relying on myself! One of my new favorite words is counter intuitive. I love this word. (listen to Jackie Hill Perry’s interview on Focus on the Family for her story of the way God began to open her eyes.) Prayer is counter intuitive. We pray to the God of the universe, who we cannot see, but we see all around us the evidence of His existence. We pray using ordinary, simple words and He listens. He is honored when we pray. He wants to be the Center of our lives and He longs to be gracious to us! (after all, He IS our Creator!) So, if you are like me, and you find your situation hopeless, then pray. Ask your friends to pray. And pray for anyone who God puts on your mind. Pray out loud. Pray often. Pray in the car.
In my life, God has done a miracle. Several miracles. We are enjoying the ‘gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many’! He drew me back to Him! He drew my husband back to Him! And now we are enjoying a marriage that is better than the one we had before. We read our Bibles. We share things with each other: and we do something together that we never used to: we pray. Often, out loud, about everything. And we are closer to God and to each other. Not perfect. We still fight sometimes. We still see a marriage counselor. But there is no doubt that we are enjoying the gracious favor of God in our marriage. It is counter intuitive: but awesome.
