The Problem With Prayer Is …, by David Hubbard (Tyndale, 1972, 91 pp., $.95 pb), is reviewed by Donald Tinder, book editor, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.
The busy president of Fuller Seminary offers a helpful and inexpensive book for those who want some guidance on a truly biblical perspective on prayer. Hubbard reminds us that “prayer is not only a specific activity which we engage in regularly; it is an attitude which we reflect continually.” He refers to the well-known spiritual “Every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart I pray,” and asks, “Can we afford to relegate prayer to the control of our feelings?” Often we put off praying because we don’t “feel” like it, but “the Bible tells us that prayer should be a carefully developed habit as well as a spontaneous expression.”
One of our biggest problems is not knowing just what to say when we do talk to God. “Almost unconsciously we feel that we should tell God what he wants to hear, not what we really think.” Among the other problems Hubbard talks about are such fundamental questions as, Why pray at all? How does prayer work? How can I pray for my enemies?
The Bible says a lot about prayer, and it gives us many examples of prayer, but not with the intention of making us feel guilty or uncomfortable. Even as God gave us breathing for our physical sustenance, so he grants us prayer for our spiritual sustenance—and because he likes the fellowship with us himself, strange as it may seem. Reflecting on this book will help keep us from making of prayer something so difficult that only super-spiritual Christians with a lot of time on their hands can practice it comfortably.
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
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