Turning the Inside Out

“When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the LORD, he arose” 1 Kings 8:54

Turning the Inside Out

Praying – The Hebrew verb for praying is reflexive.  That means that the action described in the verb does a kind of 180-degree turn and acts on the subject.  Most of the time verbs express actions where the subject acts on something else, like “I threw the ball”.  But prayer isn’t like this.  The reflexive verb means that when I am praying, the action comes back on me.  My prayers affect me.  They turn my inside longing into outside expression and that outside expression acts on me to change who I am.  I become more human in the process of prayer.

Jewish scholars say that “prayer is a process of self-evaluation, self-judgment; a process of removing oneself from the tumult of life to a little corner of truth and refastening the bonds that tie one to the purpose of life.”  In this sense, prayer is exceeding personal.  The very act of praying exposes me to spiritual forces that reshape who I am.

Of course, the reflexive nature of prayer says something important about the purpose of prayer.  The purpose of prayer is not to barter with God or to speak in ways that intend to appease God.  That is not reflexive.  The purpose of prayer is to act on the one praying.  The purpose of prayer is to bring me into alignment with God, not to get God to line up with me.

Is that how you pray?  Are you aware of the self-evaluation (“Lord, am I seeing this the way that You do?”) and the self-judgment (“Lord, is my decision in line with Your will?”) when you pray?  Are you conscious of the fact that prayer is the method God uses to change you?  Or did you think prayer was about getting something from God?

There is another reason why prayer is reflexive.  It is simply impossible to sin when I am praying reflexively.  To pray reflexively is to ask God to change me so that I honor Him.  Prayer is incompatible with sin.  I cannot be deliberately yearning to be shaped for harmony with God and at the same time rebelliously insult Him.  Therefore, prayer is the most powerful weapon against sin that we have, not because we ask God to rush in and fix things but because we pray, “Your will be done in my life”.

Be human.  Pray reflexively.