Another word about prayer. There are hundreds of references to prayer throughout the Scriptures. Many we have memorized; many more we know in principle and paraphrase. As John continued to guide us through week three of the Back to the Basics series, he highlighted four references that those of us who were in the old punk rock scene would refer to as “underground.” Off the beaten path. Not in the norm or mainstream of conversation. Different…in a good way.
Like pastors feel the need to preach until at least twelve (I’m only half kidding), teachers must elaborate on lessons to reinforce them. So I will follow the verses with a brief observation.
(Author’s Note: whether or not the far wiser and wittier Jason will have the space to print out all of the Scriptures, I don’t know. Especially the Hosea reference. But I encourage you to read them before proceeding. The title following the references were Pastor‘s words, not my own.)
1. James 4:2-3 (Voicing Our Request)
You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
In his letter, James explains two overlooked principles in prayer- our not asking for things and the motives behind our prayers. One reason we don’t posses the fulfilling spiritual life we desire (or one at all) is that we simply don’t ask. We sort of just expect it. We already know He knows everything, but we don’t ask out of pride or ignorance. But our asking for his help displays a healthy humility and acknowledgement that He alone can provide for our needs. Secondly, our motives go hand in hand with the aforementioned humility. If we expect anything to come of our conversations with God, we must leave our selfish desires at his feet. One way to tell if you’re a maturing Christ follower is that your prayers focus less and less on you and more and more on Jesus and others. Unless our heart is broken before God and our motives are pure, we’re wasting our breath. As with anything with God, it comes down to the beat of your heart. Are we praying to communicate love with our Savior? Or are we rubbing the lamp and wishing our personal genie will appear? Why settle for three wishes when there are an endless number of unselfishness ones waiting to be granted?
2. Hosea 14:1-7 (Seeking Forgiveness)
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sins have brought you down. Bring your confessions, and return to the LORD. Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises. Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.” The LORD says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon. My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.
Yes, there is a book of the Bible called Hosea. And no, the spiteful, vengeful, judgmental Old Testament God who lacked mercy and grace never existed. We must look no further than this selection of Scripture to see this. In it, he tells us our downfall (sin), instructs us to return to Him (repentance) and nothing but Him can save us (humility/grace/mercy), and finally that we will then be healed (salvation/restoration) and flourish (filled with the fruits of the Spirit). And he does so in such beautiful, poetic word pictures. No one can read that and see anything else. Prayer involves forgiveness.
To be continued…
