Organic Prayer

Have you ever heard this?

P raise
R epent
A sk
Y ield

Many people have told me that this is the formula that Christ gave us in the Lord's Prayer and is also similar to the format that David and other Psalms writers tended to follow. I've also heard that if you don't end your prayer with praise, then you haven't prayed. While I think guidelines can be nice, and while I think that there is a lot to be said for these observations . . . The more Scripture I read, and the more I mull it over, the more I have problems with them.

The idea that "most Psalms ending with praise must mean we have to praise God" is intrinsically self-serving. Why? Follow this train of thought and see if you've been here before: We forget to praise God or don't praise Him enough after we've told Him all our stuff; so then we feel like we did something wrong; and so we are just reinforcing what a dirty rotten sinner we really are; this leads to intense feelings of guilt which result in us having to pray all over again and repent of being the dirty rotten sinner that we are; and then we try to think of more praising things we can say so we can pacify Him; but then we have to ask for forgiveness from thinking that we had to pacify Him--because that means we think He is shallow--meanwhile, we are wondering if our prayers are being heard as much as Mr. Smith's over there; or else we are so sure that our prayers are being heard that we become happy in our success; but then we have to apologize for being prideful; and then we have to think of more praising words; and then we have to think of how we can yield to God today; and on and on it goes. Such a headache.

So let's get rid of all that crap. I believe that prayer is more like this: when we call out to God, He hears us, He changes us, and the Holy Spirit automatically causes praise to fall from our lips. Simple as that. We just naturally, organically end up yielding. That's why the Psalms are there in the first place, not to give us guidelines, but rather to observe how the Holy Spirit changed someone else's heart. It's like we can see this change right before our eyes and we can rejoice in the present for something God did in the past to a sinful individual just like us! Therefore, we organically desire the same thing! And of course those Psalms are necessary, because if those prayers weren't there, we wouldn't even know that prayer was possible, or--on a more immediate note--that it did any good!

We don't have to spend any time worrying about praying correctly, or praying the right words, because Romans tells us that the Holy Spirit does all that stuff. There is really no pressure. There is really no point in thinking, "What would God like to hear from me?" That is a man-made question. There is no point in trying to figure out the guidelines for prayer, because guidelines imply that we have some control in the actual direction.

Does that make sense? I've heard soooo many times when a pastor will look at a Psalm and go, "See? David knew the importance of praising his Creator!" I think that's totally backwards. Jeremiah tells us that the human soul is desparately wicked, and that it's only by God's grace through the Holy Spirit that anyone even realizes how awesome God is. David didn't realize the importance of praise. He simply called out to God, God changed his heart, and as a result David naturally turned into a beacon of praise.

When people "realize the importance of praise"...Let's be honest, doesn't that just really give them a reason to feel good about themselves? That addition of pride into prayer adds soooo much frustration into something that should really be all about God--plain and simple.

Though He slay me...

"Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him." (Job 13:15) (NASB)

I had always heard the first part of this verse, but for some reason I never bothered to look at the second part.

This was my thought process:

"Though He slay me..." Well, that's depressing. It sounds like that doom and gloom message that people say fills the Bible.

The verse continues, "...yet I will hope in Him..." Now, that just sounds like fuel for a martyr syndrome. "Even though God makes all this bad stuff happen to me, I guess I'll just stay faithful to Him. Even though He wants me to suffer to the point of death--I know He really loves me...somehow... Ho-hum. Waaa-waaa-waaaa."

The context of this passage is Job telling his friends (and what little family he had left) about how God was merciful and deserved praise even though He was allowing Satan to put Job through all these trials. Still,...that doesn't make the above words sound any better. In fact, it sounds down right sadistic of God, and it sounds like Job is a masochistic pawn.

But that's not where the verse ends.

"...Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him." Well, that sounds pretty proactive for a martyr. The KJV says "maintain my ways before Him." Young's Literal Translation even says "to His face, I will argue"!!! This is quite a contrast from the supposed down-trodden spirit in the first part of the verse. It gives the idea that Job is applying the concept in Hebrews 4:16, even though the verse wouldn't be written for several millenia. It completely changes the mood of the verse.

This tells me two things. First of all, that God doesn't change. He was the same from Job's Antideluvian Era to the Apostolic Age. Not only did both Job and Paul come before God boldly, but also that was the right thing for them to do.

Secondly, We can know that God wants us to come boldly before Him not only because this principle is all over the Old Testament (see Judges, the Psalms, prophets,...everywhere...), but also because places like Galatians 4 in the New Testament where it tells us that we are not to act like slaves of Christ, b/c we are His children. We are not to say, "um...umm...Lord?...God?...um...are you busy?....'cause I have to ask you something...but you probably won't want it answered once you hear it...so...um..." We are to say, "Abba Father! You are the only one who can help me! Listen to me."

Now, this is not to say that complaining is right. Look at cases like Jonah or Moses where they made excuses and complained. Look at how God reacted. He was patient, but His wrath was kindled--and rightly so. Here is the God of the universe saying, "Go. Speak. I will be with you," and here are Jonah and Moses going, "Oh, no You won't!" That's not coming boldly...that's disrespect. In Moses' and Jonah's defense, though...I'm not sure how any of us would react. Their doubts were sin, but extremely human. However, they (especially Moses) are regarded in other parts of the Bible as men of righteousness. This shows that while God is holy, He is forgiving.

Also, This is not to say that Job didn't ever complain. He did, and God reprimanded Him...but for the most part, Job remained faithful during intense trial...and for that, he is remembered.

However, regarding the point at hand: there is a huge difference between saying, "God, I am weak, and You are strong. Give me Your strength," and "God! I can't trust you, because it's too hard!"

The difference is faith. Complaining is not placing faith in an infinite God. Requesting boldly is. We are saying, "God, I know you can do it. Please do it." That requires TONS of faith. It doesn't make God obligated to do what we WANT, but it tells Him that we have faith that he CAN.

Anyway, back to the verse. If we only ever look at the first part of the verse, we get a very different idea of God than if we look at the entire verse. In context, this verse displays--instead of a masochistic martyr--a man full of faith. A man who says, "God has the power to kill me, but that doesn't matter. I will still trust in the Creator's power, and I will show Him my trust by pleading my case before Him. I will remind Him of my faithfulness and I will appeal to His faithfulness."

Amazing.