Dumb Prayers

               

                A few weeks ago when I was on my way to work, I started to talk to Jesus at a traffic light. “Jesus, would you be with me today?” Now wasn’t that a good thing to ask? I wanted the presence of Jesus all day long. I needed him to be right there, close. And I can ask for anything from my Savior, right?

                Hmm. Except no sooner did the words come out of my mouth than the thought crossed my mind: “That was a dumb prayer!” I asked for something I already have. God has made it very clear that his presence is with me always. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” he said in Hebrews 13:5. What part of that promise didn’t cover what I faced that day? I would not be alone for a single minute.

                You may be one of those wonderfully kind people who even hesitates to call a spade a spade. Instead you may call that morning prayer a redundant or even a cover-all-your-bases prayer. If you would, thank you for your generosity.

                However, I’m even going to go one more layer below dumb and call it faithless. It’s another vulnerable spot in my Christian life where I’m not taking God at his word and moving on with tenacious confidence.

In addition, I think I’m wasting my time. Why am I spending time asking for what is already mine? If I want to make a cake and say, “Honey, would you go get some eggs and lemons?” when we have some in the fridge, I’m wasting cake-making time waiting for him to get what is available to me. I could be making the cake, and in the spiritual realm I could be doing the work of prayer about things that haven’t already been granted.

Somewhat chagrined by my naïve praying I came across another pilgrim with the same struggle and discovery. L.B. Cowman records the story of H.W. Webb Peploe in Streams in the Desert. Peploe had suffered the agonizing loss of a child and planned to preach to his congregation on the sufficiency of God’s grace until he realized it wasn’t real to him. He begged God to make his grace sufficient for the suffering he was experiencing. Then he cast his eyes upon a new hanging on his wall: My grace is sufficient. The word is leaped out. Peploe grasped the truth that he didn’t have to pray for what God had already given; he needed to believe that it was his and that it was adequate for him instead of insulting God by asking for it.

Some might say this is simply the power of positive thinking, but it far more than that. It’s way beyond that. It’s the power of living in the truth, which is anchored in the character of God. And who is this God? The list of his character qualities is mind-boggling. It makes your face go slack-jawed. And if we could name them all, you and I wouldn’t even have the time in a lifetime to get to the bottom of each. I’ve hardly begun to discover what it means to have Jesus nearby every single minute.

I’ve got some stuff in my life right now, and it’s going to hang around for a while. I bet you have a few things that are giving you something to think about and deal with, too. What it we do a Dumb Prayer Check when we pray? Is what I’m asking for something that’s mine now? Instead of asking for it; let’s thank God for it and look for ways he’s demonstrating his presence, sufficiency, grace, goodness, patience. . . .