Prayer is a mutually intentional encounter between the Almighty and human beings. God extends the invitation continuously; humankind responds sporadically. Prayer between God and the individual is usually a private matter. A remote and quiet setting is frequently sought. The place could be a bedroom and we kneel beside the bed, a seat at the kitchen table, or the pew or altar of a sanctuary in a church. The time of prayer varies from life to life and circumstance to circumstance. We come to these places because we believe God is more available in these settings, or is it that we are more available to God at these sites? Wherever we go to commune with God, we enter the space because of the wonders in our lives or the terror of lingering despair that smothers us.
During prayer, we simply talk to God. The wise among us use the common language of our mother tongue (God is hardly impressed with long multisyllabic speech). Some of us might find ourselves writings lyrics to songs that come forth spontaneously; we empathize with David’s passion for writing the Psalms unto God. At other times, we yell angry words because God has not responded or failed to respond as we had desired. We feel justified in our anger because previously we came to the Creator in faith, and we think that we should be rewarded for our righteousness. We forget that we are not God’s peers but the lesser party in the dynamic of prayer. The how and when of divine response is in the Maker’s domain; we humans have the privilege of soliciting assistance in the what of prayer.
At times, we read and perhaps study scriptures to increase our faith muscles or to return the sacred words to the Creator thinking that our scriptural knowledge will entice God to answer prayers. God needs no monotone utterances or pseudo-intellectual presentation to be reminded of the content of scripture. We read the Holy Writ for our grasp of God. Whether we accept or reject what we read, there is an intimacy with God in our search/prayer for communion with God.
Prayer can be devoid of words. We are simply present before God Almighty; we stand or kneel in the Holy Presence. This sounds deep, but it isn’t. If the wondrous has happened in our lives, we can find no words to express our joy. If we are traumatized by life, we find no words to adequately describe the abyss of pain that swallows us. We come before God in silence because words feel like too much unnecessary clutter and do not adequately describe the sheer joy within us or the crushing flood of torment that drowns us. When we come to God without words, could it be that we have minimized the constricting importance of “I” and glimpsed a spark of the power and majesty of the Lord? Without words, we come in awe and poverty before the Lord bringing nothing but our existential dust.
Whether we sit or wrestle with God is not the primary concern. Speaking softly to the Creator or yelling at the Creator is not the most significant factor. The point is that in prayer, we intentionally come to God, and the Almighty is present for us even as was the father in the story Jesus told of the prodigal (wasteful, extravagant) son when he returned home. (Luke 15:20)
Reflections
Read the following Psalms orally. They give an understanding of God with whom we share the intimacy of prayer.
Psalm 103, NIV
Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed life the eagle’s.
The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will be harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children—
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
And his kingdom rules over all.
Praise the Lord, you his angels,
You mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
You his servants who do his will.
Praise the Lord, all his works
Everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the Lord, my soul.