Why Do We NOT Pray? – Part 2
Verse of the Day
‘There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.’
Today’s Devotional
Today’s verse is a stern warning. We are told repeatedly to pray. I have pages and pages of verses about prayer that I haven’t even used for this month’s study. But sometimes we avoid prayer, or any other spiritual discipline, for reasons we can’t see. I find it helpful for someone to propose possible reasons for my behavior. If I can see the “why”, then perhaps I can challenge it, confess it, repent, and ask for God to help me change. So today we continue what we started yesterday: looking at the reasons why we don’t pray. And again today, these come from Anthony Lee Ash’s book Pray Always, with one extra thrown in from Oswald Chambers.
So, why don’t we pray?
Reason: “We may feel prayer is unneeded.”
Response: Life is going extremely well without it. Our own abilities and resources have been more than adequate. Frankly, we can do it ourselves. The lives exhibiting this self-reliance are often admirable ones. Yet our needs, often hidden from conscious view, are always as real as those total needs we had as helpless infants. It is better for those who are abundantly blessed to be thankful to the Source from which the blessings have come. And what happens when life turns inside out and one is crushed by some tragedy?
Reason: “We avoid prayer because of deep feelings of unworthiness.”
Response: Our sins and failures loom so large that we are ashamed to bring ourselves into the divine presence (as if we are ever away from that presence). But who can God hear if not sinners and failures? His greatest saints are often most acutely aware of their sinfulness. Remember that an important part of prayer is asking God to forgive our sins. We should be delighted to approach him in the company of the prodigal son, Saul of Tarsus, and the thief on the cross. If we ever think we must earn the right to pray by our spiritual merit, we have missed the very heart of the gospel of God’s love.
Reason: “My prayers do not satisfy me emotionally.”
Response: Because God sometimes gives us emotionally thrilling prayer sessions, we are deceived into thinking only prayers of that sort are valid. We are crushed when our prayers are dull and humdrum. It is urgent that we remember that God’s desire for our prayers and his promise to answer our prayers are never contingent on the emotions we feel as we pray.
Reason: “We may be hindered in prayer for fear that God will answer.”
Response: What if we allowed God truly to take control of our lives? Could we stand such a radical surrender of self will? Most of us may want divine help some of the time. But we have those pockets of life where we cannot imagine changing. Every prayer of submission probably involves a touch of hypocrisy. Most of the time, we are not even aware of our reservations. We must remember that God understands us perfectly, and will only move us a bit closer to our ideal a little bit at a time.
Reason: “We simply forget to pray, even after we have experienced remarkable answers to prayer.”
Response: Forgetfulness is at the root of much spiritual failure. The Bible emphasizes the importance of remembering, as with the Lord’s Supper – “do this in remembrance of Me”.
Reason: “We do not pray because of the feeling that God has not answered our prayers.”
Response: This may be the hardest to deal with. We prayed in faith, and our prayers were fervent, repeated, and came from the deepest recesses of our being. Yet they were not answered (the way we wanted them to be or in a way we could see.) Should we keep praying if it just brings disappointment after disappointment? Yes. God still loves us, even when it seems he does not. If the Bible affirms anything, it affirms that. For God to have become man and to have died on a cross for us and then to refuse to love us when we are experiencing tragedy makes no sense.
Reason: We feel that God does not give us the appropriate amount of attention.
Response: (From Oswald Chambers) There is a subtle thing that goes by the name of unworthiness, which is petulant pride with God. When we are shy, withdrawn, or aloof with other people, it is sometimes because we believe we are superior to the average person and we won’t talk until they realize our importance. Prayerlessness with God is the same thing. We are shy with God not because we are unworthy, but because we think God has not given enough consideration of our case.
Here’s my personal response to some of these reasons: “Ouch.” But the challenge is when we see any of these reasons for avoiding prayer to then apply 2 Corinthians 7:10. “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow.” We don’t need to feel shame if we have allowed any of these reasons to keep us from prayer. What we can now see, we use to empower us to come boldly before the throne of grace. Because there we will find everything we have ever needed.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Do you see yourself, whether consciously or subconsciously, avoiding prayer for any of these reasons? Which ones?
How have you treated prayer as if it weren’t needed?
How have you allowed the lie of unworthiness keep you from your Father?
How has being forgetful kept you from praying?
How can you embrace and apply the kind of sorrow that leads you toward the Father?
How important is prayer in your life?