After all
these years, I still don’t fully understand prayer. It’s something of a mystery
to me. But one thing I know: When we’re in desperate need, prayer springs
naturally from our lips and from the deepest level of our hearts.
When
we’re frightened out of our wits, when we’re pushed beyond our limits, when
we’re pulled out of our comfort zones, when our well-being is challenged and
endangered, we reflexively and involuntarily resort to prayer. “Help, Lord!” is
our natural cry.
Author
Eugene Peterson wrote: “The language of prayer is forged in the crucible of
trouble. When we can’t help ourselves and call for help, when we don’t like where
we are and want out, when we don’t like who we are and want a change, we use
primal language, and this language becomes the root language of prayer.”
Prayer
begins in trouble, and it continues because we’re always in trouble at some
level. It requires no special preparation, no precise vocabulary, no
appropriate posture. It springs from us in the face of necessity and, in time,
becomes our habitual response to every issue—good and bad—we face in this life
(Phil. 4:6). What a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer!
God’s help is only a prayer away. (RBC)
