Let us pray

Brian Boardman November 16, 2017 0 0

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Psalm 70

1 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
    O Lord, make haste to help me!
2 Let those be put to shame and confusion
    who seek my life.
Let those be turned back and brought to dishonour
    who desire to hurt me.
3 Let those who say, ‘Aha, Aha!’
    turn back because of their shame.

4 Let all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you.
Let those who love your salvation
    say evermore, ‘God is great!’
5 But I am poor and needy;
    hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
    O Lord, do not delay!

When we read the Gospels, we cannot fail to be inspired by the many occasions on which Jesus took himself off to a remote place so that He might be alone with His Father in prayer. For Jesus, prayer always came before a great work of power. Prayer was what kept Him going even in the darkest times. And in a quite remarkable way, it was after struggling with prayer at Gethsemane that Jesus cried out “But not my will Father, but Yours be done”. From that point on, He walked towards the cross with a serenity and peace which defies our earthly logic. 

So what is prayer? I suppose we could simply say that prayer is just a conversation with God. But when we see God not as some angry deity in Heaven, but instead as a loving Father, then our conversations with Him reflect that relationship.

A child brought up in a loving and caring environment naturally wants to talk with their father to learn from him and to ask things of him. The child is confident with what the father says and knows that his father would never do anything to hurt him. When Jesus urged us to become like little children in our relationship with God, he challenged us to seek greater faith and trust. His parables of the wicked judge and the man seeking bread at midnight remind us of the need to pray constantly and never give up (see Luke 18: 1-8 and Luke 11: 5-10).

Many of the psalms are credited to David and many of them are cries from the heart in a desperate situation. David frequently reflects that it is God’s faithful answer to previous prayer that inspires him to more prayer, confident that God hears and responds. So maybe we need to keep a record of our own prayers too, and look back over the years and reflect upon how God answered them in often the most unexpected ways. When we do, we too can walk forward with the peace that Jesus knew.

Holy Father, teach us to pray. Teach us to set aside time each day for quiet reflection and conversation with You. Teach us to see that every trial in life is an opportunity to bring our requests to You, confident that not only do You hear, but that in Your amazing grace You respond in Your time and in Your way. Teach us to wait patiently for Your answers, and when they come, to rejoice and give You thanks and to share these answers to prayer with the next generation so that they too may be inspired to seek Your face and put their trust in You. Amen.