Many Times, Many Ways - Part 4
Sometimes,
the night is long. We are called to wait, to keep our candle burning before the
stars will break out in light. Waiting… is hard. Waiting… requires
perseverance. We are seeking God in prayer, begging him to guide. Yet,
sometimes as we sit and wait for the starlight to emerge or the dawn to come,
fear rises with the increasing dark. What if we give up praying too soon? What
if we cease seeking? (Later I hope to get to the question of when to wait, when
to push open a door, when is it a closed door?) What if the Israelites had
stopped marching around Jericho on the sixth time? If I cease praying, snuff
out my candle, will the light of God’s guidance not come? Can we thwart God’s
will by not praying?
The first
answer to allay our fear is God himself, God in all of his sovereignty. Sovereign.
Powerful. He is not inherently restricted by man’s prayers. We cannot force him
to do something; we cannot inhibit him from doing something. He has declared
his purpose and will bring it about! This is true not only in the macrocosmic
things, the positioning of the galaxies and the tide of history, but also in
his daily concern for us. Wisdom for a job, what step to take next, etc. are
all included in his sovereign plan.
So why
pray? Specifically, why pray for guidance? What role does prayer play? In the
vast darkness of the sky, if God alone can bring the stars, why keep our candle
burning? First of all, God commands us to pray. Secondly, Jesus prayed, setting
an example. Before making a decision regarding choosing his disciples (a matter
of guidance), he spent the night in prayer (Lk.
6:12). Thirdly, God ordains, but he also ordains the means. Our prayers for
guidance, for opening and closing doors, for a certain circumstance to come
about, etc. may be God’s means of answering our prayers and what he has
ordained.
Fourthly,
it is a way of tuning our heart to his. We reveal our heart to him in prayer;
few things show what we truly desire as prayer does (or our lack of it, or our
fervency in it). The Spirit reveals our heart to us in prayer. And the Father
reveals his heart to us in prayer. It is in this dialogue that we are changed,
and our wills are transformed to his. It is in this dialogue and transformation
that we find what we truly desire and find instinctive guidance as we gain his
insight. Our flickering candle begins to become transformed into a star itself.
Moreover, it ceases to be consumed by itself or for its own purposes.
Fifthly,
related to the previous, prayer is a means to develop a relationship. And for
guidance—how are we to recognize his voice if we do not develop a relationship
with him? Why would we want his will (rather than ours) if we do not truly see
him as he is and see his goodness? Prayer deepens a relationship, a
relationship between Guide and the seeker, between the Shepherd and the sheep.
Sixth, it
is a means of imaging him. As we are transformed more into his image, made like
him, see his heart and reflect his heart, we are fashioned more profoundly into
the image of God. And Adam, the first image bearer, was created to be the image
of God, his representative, in dominion over this earth. He was created to
exercise power on God’s behalf. Prayer is a means of power, of exerting God’s
power on God’s behalf for his kingdom (and oh! so treat it wisely! for his
kingdom alone!). It is thus part of being renewed in the image of God. This, too,
pertains to guidance as we seek to govern our world, decisions, family, time,
strength, etc. for his kingdom.
Seventh, prayer
is a means of worship and glorifying God. It is recognizing his sovereignty,
goodness, transcendence, immanence, love, power, faithfulness, personalness,
holiness. We pray because he is God, and the innate action of prayer recognizes
that. Thus, it glorifies him. Pertaining to guidance, it is recognizing his
wisdom and love to guide us as God.
Finally,
prayer specifically for guidance shows we value his wisdom, his guidance. Our
seeking shows our value of it. Pearls are not thrown to swine; wisdom merits
seeking (Job
28; Prov.
3:15).
In
addition, God’s sovereignty also gives us a motive to persevere in prayer in
those long nights. It helps keep our candle burning. We ask the Sovereign One
who can truly cause our prayer to come about. He can change hearts. He can
depose kings. He can open or close doors. He can speak regarding that job,
marriage, decision, etc. So we have confidence in prayer to persevere. What
confidence we can have! But incandescent confidence also blooms in the
knowledge that he is good and all-wise. What if all our prayers were answered
in the way we had prayed? Have we not all made prayers for which we are so glad
the answer was different than what we had expected? How frightening prayer
would be then!
All this is
the long answer to a first question, can we thwart God’s will by ceasing to
pray? Or praying for the wrong thing? As we pray or don’t pray for guidance,
will we alter God’s best for us? No! He is sovereign. His will shall come to
pass. We cannot hinder the Almighty God. For those who love him, desire him, he
will cause all things—even our sins and failures—to work out for our good in
him. So why pray? There are reasons, although ones that leave a lot of mystery
with the complexity between human will and freedom and God’s will and freedom.
What confidence and peace we can have in God’s sovereignty to calm the anxious
heart. We may fail, but God is faithful (2
Tim. 2:13; Jn.
21:15-19). We may stumble, but God will make our feet firm. We can brush
the weight of the world off of our shoulders, realizing it is on his
Atlas-shoulders and in his good hands.
So, the
night drags on. But our prayers are transformed. We are transformed as we
continue to keep our candle burning. No longer are our prayers sprung from a
cavern of fear in reaction to the dark. They are a herald of the light, as we
fix our eyes on his faithfulness. Our fervency does not come from fear that we have to make something happen.
Rather, they are a natural response, a heart-joy response, to God’s sovereignty
and Lordship. Our candles foreshadow his light! They burn from his wick, not
our wax! There is a peace in the perseverance; not an anxious striving.
Moreover, it may be that we find the guidance we wanted as we persevere, and rest
our fears in him. The night will end; the stars will come. But until then, when
we recognize his sovereignty and his desire to commune with us, there can be
joy in the waiting.
“O Lord, my heart is
not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself
with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and
quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the
Lord
from this time forth and forevermore”
(Psalm 131).
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