When You're Sick of Prayer
Two books that make a delightful difference.
Review by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. | posted 12/21/2006 08:45AM
Addressing fellow believers, J. C. Ryle once wrote, "If I know anything of a Christian's heart, you are often sick of your own prayers." The sickness is drearily familiar: You can't think of what to say. Or you tell God he's majestic, but then you recall that the Subaru needs an oil change. You promise God that you'll fight the good fight and doze off as you speak. You feel stagy and self-conscious at prayer. You try to confess your sins, but your shifty psyche won't come clean. (Both of these fine new books quote C. S. Lewis, who fought his dishonest prayers by beginning like this: "May it be the real I who speaks; may it be the real Thou that I speak to.")
A Heart for Prayer
J. I. Packer (a CT senior editor) and Carolyn Nystrom start us off with a character sketch of God. Knowledge of God's character makes him more real to us and makes us more aware of his presence. "God is personal, plural, perfect, powerful, purposeful, promise-keeping, paternal, and … praiseworthy."
To Packer and Nystrom, the key to healthy prayer is not technique. It's a pure heart that wants to please God. Much of this book focuses on the person who is praying. One lovely chapter is all about brooding over Scripture and about soliloquy in God's presence. You "plead with yourself," God as your witness. The authors write of praising God: Like all prayer, it's both a duty and a delight. They remind us that our prayers need periodic checkups, self-examinations that test for mixed motives and self-deception.
One chapter on asking admits our difficulty: We want to pray in accord with God's will, but God's will is complex. Still, say the authors, ask and give God reasons for your request. Affirm that if God has something different in mind for you, it will be better even if it doesn't look better. Other good chapters—"Complaining," "Hanging On," and "Joining In"—discuss our need to lament in prayer, to wait for God ("How long?"), and to pray inside the church.
Praying is an insightful and orderly study, clearly written and abounding in well-chosen quotes, including passages of Scripture. The authors raise questions about prayer and the Christian life, and then they answer them with remarkable assurance.
Less Buttoned-Down
Philip Yancey's Prayer has a less buttoned-down feel. Yancey writes more as a journalist, with a sharp eye for detail and an investigative unwillingness to force conclusions. Chapters are short, but brimming with juice. Stories abound. Part of the time, Yancey just wonders about prayer. And Yancey, a ct editor at large, is a mighty fine wonderer. Here are some vintage observations and wonderments:
• What can we learn from the fact
that Jesus prayed over the calling of
his disciples and got Judas as one of
the answers?
• Why would Jesus need to pray so
much?
• The church's hymnbook is the
Psalter, and some of its psalms are not
only exultant, but also angry and
whiny. What do we do with the raw
prayers of the Bible—the ones that
show so little serenity?
• Job is bitter and
impatient, but he's
the one God vindi-
cates, not his polite,
rational friends.
• Jesus taught his
disciples that "your
Father knows what
you need before you
ask him." He then
taught his disciples to
ask for the same things
God knows we need.
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