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Now What? – Rewind

Sunday, May 19th, 2013 | Author:

Today I will be traveling to Israel where I will be for 3 weeks, then on to Spain, then Greece and finally home 6 weeks from now.  As you can imagine, writing Today’s Word every day while putting in these kind of miles is a bit daunting.  So, here is an official “rewind,” a TW from some time ago that one of my best friends told me she liked very much.  In the next few weeks I will have to do another one or two (?) of these just to stay afloat, if you don’t mind.

for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;  Romans 8:26

How To Pray - Is this really the problem?  Does Paul mean to say that we don’t know how to pray?  It doesn’t seem so.  Prayer is ultimately about communion with God.  It is about all of the emotional, volitional, cognitive and embodied elements that bridge the gap between who I am and who God is.  I don’t think I really have any serious concerns about how I pray.  I know that the Hebrew words cover the range from growling to weeping, from shouting to dancing and from pleading to praising.  The real problem is that I don’t know what to pray.  I don’t really know what God is doing in the circumstances of my life, so I don’t really know what to say that will align my heart  with His purposes.  I am stuck with the finite version of the eternal plans of God.  More often than not, I am at a loss for true perspective.

Someone is sick.  What should I pray?  Should I pray for healing?  What if that is not what God is doing with these circumstances?  Someone lost a job.  Do I pray for another, or is God teaching something else?  At every hand I am confronted with confusion.  How can I pray rightly if I do not know the mind of God first?  Do I just toss up words and add the “if it is Your will” catch-all at the end?  Paul seems to say something else.

First, the Greek phrase does not include the word pos (how).  Therefore, any translation that adds this thought doesn’t seem to be correct.  There is also no justification for adding  the “for” in a translation such as “what to pray for.”  Paul literally says, “because what we may pray as we ought, we do not know.”  Leon Morris comments:  “But we cannot hide behind a plea of ignorance and give up on prayer.  Prayer is part of the Christian life. . .  We must pray aright, and since we cannot do that, the Spirit comes to our aid.”  Paul’s comment is not an excuse for incapacity.  It is a description of our finitude.  We don’t know what to pray because in our brokenness in a broken world we cannot know what to pray.  Unless God shows up in our prayers, we are simply guessing.

The Greek verb here is proseuchomai, the standard New Testament word for praying.  It is a general category word, covering all the elements of prayer.  Paul isn’t saying that we lack insight when it comes to intercession or supplication.  He is saying that the human condition leaves us deficient in all aspects of prayer.  If you have ever struggled in conversation with God, you know that Paul speaks the truth.  Prayer is very difficult.  Without the Spirit, there is always an awareness of inadequacy in the experience.

A lot of us recognize this problem, but now what?  Perhaps it helps to recognize that the Hebrew approach to prayer almost always focuses on praise and blessing for God.  In fact, most prayers in the Siddur (the Hebrew prayer book) are filled with blessing and praising God’s name, His works and His faithfulness.  There seems to be a lot less concern about human needs and supplications.  What comes to the forefront is the magnificence and majesty of God.  Maybe these prayers don’t struggle so much with the issue of incapacity because they start by acknowledging the impossibly wide gap.  Furthermore, when the prayers of the Siddur do bring needs before the King of the Universe, the attitude is always focused on the transformation of the supplicant’s heart in order to be content with the sovereign will of the King.  In other words, the prayer is not so much about what we want God to do as it is about becoming pliable and accepting His purposes.  Prayer is real petition, but it focuses on the degree of my contentment.  God’s sovereignty always trumps my desires and I need to absorb that.

Finally, it might be helpful to see that prayer is a duty, not simply a desire.  We are commanded to pray.  That means we must pray in spite of our feelings about the situation.  How easy it is to shed the discipline of prayer when we are discouraged or downtrodden.  But prayer is not emotionally based.  Prayer is the requirement to talk to Him about it.  “Why didn’t you come to me sooner,” is God’s answer to our hesitancy.  We need to make prayer a discipline of life.  Once again, this is demonstrated in the Siddur which begins prayer at the very moment we wake and has prescribed prayers for nearly every activity in the day.  Maybe the rabbis knew how quickly we lose sight of God in the hustle and bustle of life, so they built into the training process the constant reminders of Creator conversation.  Paul concurs with his exhortation, “Pray without ceasing.”

In personal confession, I recognize that I do not know what to pray.  That often leads me to not pray, since I can see no way out of the circumstances I face.  I don’t know what to do, so I don’t know what to ask.  Not knowing what to ask, I ask nothing at all.  But this is a terrible and debilitating mistake and an awful display of arrogance.  Who am I to know?   The solution to the problem is not asking God to assist me with my solutions.  I don’t have a solution.  Therefore, I am left with pouring out my heart-felt struggle without an answer.  That opens the door for the Spirit.  All I have really done is come to the Father with these words on my lips:  “I do not know what to pray, Father, but I know who You are.  Let my heart be molded to Your purposes.  That is enough for me.”

This isn’t the end of the story, but it is a beginning.

Topical Index:  prayer, proseuchomai, Siddur, contentment, Romans 8:26

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Rest and Protection

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012 | Author:

And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  Romans 8:26  NASB

Intercedes – Paul’s word for intercedes is a very special word that he made up just to paint a very special picture.  The word is huperentugchano, another tongue twister.  Once again we will see the meaning as we break the word into its parts.  Huper is a prefix that means, “on behalf of or for the protection of.”  The next part is en, meaning, “to rest in or rest on.”  Finally we come to tugchano, a verb that means, “to fall in with people, to meet them.”  Do you see this beautiful picture?  The Spirit falls in with us for the purpose of providing rest and protection.  That’s what intercession means!  Someone comes to you and lifts your burden.  You are given rest.  And at the same time, that helper surrounds you with protection so that the weight you were carrying does not fall back on you.  Rest and protection.  Exactly what we need!

When we come to YHWH with prayers so heavy on our souls we can barely carry them, the Spirit falls in with us.  God is right there on His knees with us.  He leans toward us, face-to-face, and gently lifts the burden.  “Rest in me,” He whispers.  “Let me pray for you.”  And while we kneel next to the Spirit, we feel His mighty arm of protection, giving us a firm squeeze.  “I know what you need to say, my child.”

Intercession is a wonderful word.  It is the word that let’s me rest in the arms of the Father, knowing that the Spirit is pleading my concerns before the throne of grace.  The most amazing fact of Paul’s proclamation of prayer is this:  Prayer is God’s work too.  Paul tells us that God is the active agent in intercession.  We are carried along by His effort.  This is not a demand for me to reach heavenly realms with soul-wrenching pleadings.  This is a statement that God Himself brings my deepest cares to the Light.  I do not serve a God Who waits for me to find the secret formula of effective prayer before He answers.  I serve a God Who rushes to my side, lifts my burdens and gives expression to my unutterable concerns.  I serve a God Who knows exactly what I need to pray and then does it for me.

The next time you are on your knees, struggling with the deepest longings of your heart, listen!  You will hear the Spirit right beside you; speaking the words you could not find about the thoughts you could not comprehend.  Our God is the God of the most intimate places.

Topical Index: prayer, intercession, huperentugchano, Romans 8:26

 

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The Prayer of Feelings

Sunday, December 16th, 2012 | Author:

And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  Romans 8:26  NASB

Weakness – Sick!  That’s the usual meaning of the Greek word astheneia.  It comes from the negative of sthenoo, a word that means “strength or power.” This word is used many times to describe those people that Jesus healed.  They had sick bodies – and sick spirits.  They just couldn’t do things for themselves.  Here Paul uses the word as a metaphor to describe the general condition of being human – powerless!

Anyone who has ever faced an addiction knows very personally the meaning of this word.  “We admitted that we were powerless.”  That is the beginning of recovery – an admission of weakness.  Powerless over the force within that ravages us.  Powerless to stop doing what we know is killing us.  Powerless to pull ourselves out of the spiral of destruction.  But now Paul uses this word to describe the powerlessness of believers in their desire to pray correctly.  As believers, we are no longer under the power of that evil grip that sought to destroy us.  But that does not mean we are suddenly transformed into super-human resurrected warriors.  Weakness is part of who we are.  It is designed into us on purpose.  God’s intention is to let our weakness become His glory.  YHWH is the active agent here.  His help comes because He is glorifying Himself through us, not because He expects us to share the load with Him.  This was the pattern of Yeshua’s life – that the Father might be glorified through Him.

Here we see the wonder of the Spirit in the weakness of our prayers.   How many times have I gone to my knees and just not known how to express what was on my heart?  It is as though my whole being ached to tell God all about my trials and burdens, but I couldn’t form the right words.  And most importantly, my desire to pray “according to His will” seemed so frustrated by the limit of my earthly vision.  I just didn’t know what His will was, so how could I pray correctly?  What I love about God is that He pays attention to my motives, no matter how deeply embedded they are in all the clutter of my life.  He knows what I want to say.  So, precisely because of my weakness, the Spirit lifts up my own heart and voice and prays through my powerlessness to the glory of the Father.  Amen!

Maybe that’s why feelings are so important in Hebraic thought.  When I just can’t get my mind around it, YHWH is more than delighted for me to feel my prayers toward Him.

Topical Index:  prayer, weakness, astheneia, sthenoo, sick, Romans 8:26

 

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Rest and Protection

Thursday, December 06th, 2012 | Author:

And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26 NASB

Intercedes – Paul’s word for intercedes is a very special word that he made up just to paint a very special picture. The word is huperentugchano, another tongue twister. Once again we will see the meaning as we break the word into its parts. Huper is a prefix that means, “on behalf of or for the protection of.” The next part is en, meaning, “to rest in or rest on.” Finally we come to tugchano, a verb that means, “to fall in with people, to meet them.” Do you see this beautiful picture? The Spirit falls in with us for the purpose of providing rest and protection. That’s what intercession means! Someone comes to you and lifts your burden. You are given rest. And at the same time, that helper surrounds you with protection so that the weight you were carrying does not fall back on you. Rest and protection. Exactly what we need!

When we come to YHWH with prayers so heavy on our souls we can barely carry them, the Spirit falls in with us. God is right there on His knees with us. He leans toward us, face-to-face, and gently lifts the burden. “Rest in me,” He whispers. “Let me pray for you.” And while we kneel next to the Spirit, we feel His mighty arm of protection, giving us a firm squeeze. “I know what you need to say, my child.”

Intercession is a wonderful word. It is the word that let’s me rest in the arms of the Father, knowing that the Spirit is pleading my concerns before the throne of grace. The most amazing fact of Paul’s proclamation of prayer is this: Prayer is God’s work too. Paul tells us that God is the active agent in intercession. We are carried along by His effort. This is not a demand for me to reach heavenly realms with soul-wrenching pleadings. This is a statement that God Himself brings my deepest cares to the Light. I do not serve a God Who waits for me to find the secret formula of effective prayer before He answers. I serve a God Who rushes to my side, lifts my burdens and gives expression to my unutterable concerns. I serve a God Who knows exactly what I need to pray and then does it for me.

The next time you are on your knees, struggling with the deepest longings of your heart, listen! You will hear the Spirit right beside you; speaking the words you could not find about the thoughts you could not comprehend. Our God is the God of the most intimate places.

Topical Index: prayer, intercession, huperentugchano, Romans 8:26

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Prayer as Gift

Monday, November 05th, 2012 | Author:

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.  James 5:16 NASB

Righteous – Now we reach the critical word of James’ statement about prayer.  The Greek is dikaiou.  This is a word derived from the concept of justice.  The man who is just (righteous) is the man who has been declared “not guilty” because Christ has transformed his life.  That transformation means a change in my direction, my attitude, my purposes and my behavior.  If I can’t tell the difference between the way I behaved before God said, “Not guilty” and the way I behave after He passed His verdict, then transformation has not occurred.

James tells us that the transformed man is the man who offers strong intense petitions.  The transformed man knows he is broken before God.  The transformed man acknowledges that his life is not under his control.  The transformed man seeks God’s purposes through the channel of his own personal needs.  Unless I have been transformed, prayer is still self-serving.  But as soon as my life becomes devoted to God’s will, my prayers take on a power they never had before.  They move me toward the place of open and unashamed dependence on my Lord.

Righteousness is the key to this kind of powerhouse prayer.  But too often we think that righteousness is something we work up to; something that we have to achieve before God can use us.  That isn’t true.  My righteousness is nothing more than the perfect sacrifice of Christ transferred to me by God’s verdict.  It has nothing to do with my good works, efforts or intentions.  Righteousness is a gift given the moment I relinquish my life to Him.

When you come before God in prayer as a child declared “not guilty,” you have the same relationship that Yeshua had with the Father.  Did Yeshua falter in His petitions?  Did He pray and not expect answers?  Never.  Prayer aligned His actions with the Father’s will. We have the opportunity to do the same.  That is prayer that can ask “whatever you wish and it shall be granted.”

Topical Index: prayer, dikaiou, righteous, justified, James 5:16

 

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Tears of Heaven

Sunday, November 04th, 2012 | Author:

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.  James 5:16 NASB

Prayer – The Greek word is deesis.  It comes from the word deomai.  What is important about this word is that it involves personal needs.  The verse could be translated, “The very strong very personal petitions.”  There is nothing general about these requests.  It is not, “Oh, God, bless everyone in the world” or “”Oh, God, save those poor lost souls.”  These petitions are your special heartaches.  They are cries to God for the things that matter to you.

I often wonder if we truly understand the process of prayer.  While the Christian marketplace is flooded with books about prayer, perhaps we need much less instruction and much more honesty in this matter.  I remember many times when just getting on my knees seemed so hard to do, as if the act of subservience before God caused a great resistance to swell up in me.  Hopefully life has changed.  Hopefully I can bend the knee because He has stripped away my false defenses.  But when I begin to pray, I often find my mind wandering and jumbled.  So these days I try to pray out loud.  Even then I stumble.  Now I actually keep a list in front of me.  “Father, here are my very personal concerns today.  I have written them down so that I won’t lose track of what I want to tell You.”

Even with this preparation for prayer, the times of real heart wrenching pleas are few.  But I remember them.  Tears streaming down my face, sobs and shakes, I laid my soul bare before the Lord.  I came close to James’ description.  It wasn’t the tears or the sobs.  It was the vulnerability.

So many times our prayers take on a “manufactured” style.  I find this especially true when I listen to the “professionals” in the prayer business.  Somehow their prayers seem hollow, even if they might be sincere.  Why?  Because those prayers really aren’t about them at all.  They are defined by the acceptable topics of prayer from our religious background.  James tells us quite the opposite.  Intense yearnings, very strong pleading and crying out to the Lord begin with complete openness.  We are so protective that even in front of God we often try to shield ourselves.  That inner resistance must fall before our petitions become “exceedingly strong.”  How do we get to this place of complete vulnerability?  Perhaps it starts with the obedience of a life broken before Him, willing to accept any answer that serves His purposes.

The paradox is that ultimately prayer is not about me at all.  It certainly begins with my needs, but prayer shifts the focus from me to God so that my needs become the avenue for His purposes.  That shift cannot occur until I am empty before Him.  These days I can barely speak the manufactured prayer words.  But I can cry.

Topical Index:  prayer, deesis, deomai, vulnerability, James 5:16

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Last Things First

Saturday, November 03rd, 2012 | Author:

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.  James 5:16 NASB

Effective – This verse is so important that we need to pay attention to nearly every word.  Today we look at the first word in English, which actually translates two words in Greek.  The Greek text reveals an adjective and a verb that means “much strength.”  The verb here is ischuo.  It carries the sense of being able to accomplish, have the power to do or be strong and effective.  In some uses, it can mean to overcome or prevail.  Paul uses this verb in his famous statement, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus.”  Here the word is present tense, active.  It is a “doing it right now” word.

There is a lot of power in this word.  But James adds polu and enhances this already strong verb.  It is not just powerful; it is very powerful, exceedingly strong, able to overcome much, prevailing against whatever stands in the way.  The combination in Greek is not about strength on tap.  It is not a reservoir waiting to be unleashed.  The Greek tells us that this prayer is actively doing what it intends to do.

I have always been an intense person.  I am one of those people who usually goes for it.   My wife says I incite discomfort.   Unfortunately, that characteristic was also true of my sins.  I actively made them happen.  God showed me that all the activity I expended for myself was futile.  Now He is showing me something else about the mad dash to get things done.  He is showing me that I need to pray more and work less.

Most of us come to prayer after we have tried everything else.  We scramble around looking for “visible” answers to our problems.  We go to the drawing board.  We plan.  We promote.  We hustle.  We do everything but the one thing that the Bible tells us is the most powerful active resource we have.  Prayer is not the end, it is the beginning.  Today is the day to start like this: “In the beginning is exceedingly strong petition.”

Some verses in the Scriptures scare me (for example, “I never knew you”).  Some verses humiliate me (“If you love me you will keep my commandments”).  But some verses cause me intense emotional agony, even discouragement.  James’ verse is one of these.  I know that I should be exuberant at the thought of the power of prayer, but quite often I am not.  Why not?  Because I fall so far short of what James has in mind.  My prayers are not anything like the prayer that He describes.  My prayers are struggles – with myself, with my past and with my trust in God.  It’s hard to imagine that they are powerfully effective and that leads me to think that maybe I am not a righteous man.

What can I do about this?  Perhaps the answer is also the struggle.  Perhaps the answer is prayer.

Topical Index:  James 5:16, prayer, effective, polu ischuei

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Lion Prayer

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 | Author:

Some years ago we looked at Hebrew words for prayer.  Among them was hagah.  Rather than add more words to the concept, I thought you might remember the Hebrew word better if I offered you a picture, compliments of South Africa.  So, when you read about hagah, think of this and pray with power.

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Sleeper Awake

Monday, August 15th, 2011 | Author:

I gratefully thank You, living and existing King, for returning my soul within me with compassion, abundant is Your faithfulness.  Prayer Upon Arising (first prayer of the Siddur)

Faithfulness – This prayer is the very first prayer a devout follower of YHWH says when he wakes.  It is a rather simple prayer but it has profound implications.  In Hebrew it is:

Mo-deh ani le-fa-ne-ka (a woman would say Mo-da ani le-fa-ne-ka)

Melek chai be-ka-yam

She-he-che-zar-ta bee nish-ma-ti be-chem-la

            Ra-ba e-mu-na-te-cha

Think about what this implies.  First, we greet the day with gratitude and thanksgiving.  What is a day that does not begin with a recognition that life has once more been granted to us?  Furthermore, that fact that we wake means that God has purpose for us here – this very day.  We have not yet fulfilled the design He intended with our existence.  There is more to do, and He has trusted us to do it.  We owe life to Him because He has given life to us.

Secondly, the prayer boldly states the YHWH is the living and existing King.  A living King is presently ruling over His kingdom.  This reminds us that God is at this moment of waking, fully in charge of His creation.  But why add “existing” King?  Some translations offer “eternal” for the word kayam, but I believe the word “existing” is deeper.  We have learned that Hebrew views existence in terms of function, so declaring YHWH to be the existing King is to declare that His function is royal dominion.  He doesn’t just hold the title “king.”  He is what it means to be king.  He is the definition of “king” and He exists in His role as king.  Of course, that also implies that we are His subjects.  The relationship is crucial.  The separation is what makes Him God and us human.

Thirdly, notice that God returns my nishma.  “Soul” isn’t quite right.  Nishma is the very breath that makes me alive.  It is the embodiment of what we call “person.”  The prayer implies that God actively reinstates my being each morning.  Of course, that’s not how we in the West think about waking up, but maybe we just don’t get it.  If the world is God’s world, then the reason we wake is because God wants us to wake and that means He has a need for us to be here.  Thus, awaking is a sign of compassion, but not simply compassion for me.  God is compassionate about His purposes for the earth and every time I wake, I am asked, indeed, I am commanded, to engage in His compassion.  I am here to manifest that compassion He shows me when I once more open my eyes.

Finally, there is the word emunatecha.  Emunah is the Hebrew word for “faithfulness.”  It is also the word for “truth.”  It is from ‘aman, the verb meaning “to be firm, to support, to nurture, to establish.”  When we wake, we realize that God is reliable.  His creation is reliable since it reflects Him.  His word is reliable since it is a manifestation of His character.  We realize that everything rests on Him.  His faithfulness to His purposes, purposes that this day include us, is great; greater than any other force in His universe; great enough to bring to consciousness once more His majesty.

Maybe this is a morning prayer worth repeating.

Topical Index:  awake, prayer, emunatecha, Siddur, nishma, kayam

 

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Reading Again

Monday, June 13th, 2011 | Author:

There is a time to act for God; set aside the Torah Psalm 119:126  (Heschel)

To act for God – You won’t get this translation in the English Bibles.  Most English Bibles, and a lot of translations of the Jewish Tanakh, read something like, “It is time for the Lord to act, for they have broken Your law.”  But Heschel’s translation is certainly legitimate.  In fact, the Hebrew text is quite difficult with verbal constructions that appear as nouns and ambiguous case and tense problems.  Robert Alter notes that the verse is understood in many different ways.  Heschel’s point drives home the lesson that Torah study is not the goal of faith.  God is the goal of faith, and at times, it is necessary to set aside the Torah in order to draw closer to the Author.  “It is easier to study than to pray.  It is harder to become a God fearing person than a scholar.”[1]

Oh, how we know this to be true!  Hundreds of books on the shelf.  Thousands of pages on hundreds of words.  Commentary after commentary.  Where does that leave us?  Right where we started, still unable to pray for an hour without constant mental dispersion.  How much closer are we to the Father for all the study we have done?  How much more do we have joy as a constant companion?  Or are we not simply more educated, more conversant with Scripture, more arrogant in our understanding?

There are times when Torah needs to be set aside.  There are times when work for God is all that keeps us attached to Him.  The rituals are empty without His presence.  The rites are a sham without the Spirit.  And yet we continue to do them, knowing full well that we have side-stepped the real lover of our souls.   When was the last time you were bathed in the holiness of God?  Was it that long ago?  Has life become such a burden of routines that even He is pushed to the edges?

We could go on today, talking about the grammar of this most difficult Hebrew verse.  We could search the etymologies and the pictographs.  We could wax eloquently on its implications and connections.  We could – but why would we when we know what the real issue is?  “Where are you?” the Lord asks Adam.  He asks us the same question.  Where are we when we should be right next to Him?

There is a time to act for God.  It is now.

Topical Index:  time, et, Torah, prayer, scholar, Psalm 119:126

[1] Abraham Heschel, A Passion for the Truth, p. 56.

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