Inside Job
Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; be gracious to me and hear my prayer. Psalm 4:1
Prayer – Why do we pray? If God knows our needs before we ask, what’s the point? If God has sovereignly arranged the circumstances to accomplish His purposes, why ask for what we think matters? Is God running a kind of divine roulette game, altering His bets as the percentages change? Or is He GOD, doing what He knows is best regardless of our petty perceptions?
Rabbinic scholars provide an answer to these perplexing questions. It is an answer that we need to think about deeply. It comes from the root of the Hebrew word for prayer – tephilla. The root of tephilla is palal. This root means “to judge, to discern, to differentiate, clarify and decide.” According to the rabbis, prayer is much less about what we want as it is about understanding what God wants. In other words, prayer is the means by which my will comes to discern, clarify and differentiate God’s will. I pray so that I can be changed by my own words, so that I can through my speech be transformed into His likeness. I pray so that I can develop true perceptions about life in order that I may be prepared to receive what God’s will is for me. I pray in order to fit His desire.
Did you get that? Prayer is not about what I want, what I need, what I desire. Prayer is about talking with God long enough so that I become suitable material for God to sew His will into me. The Hebrew view is that man becomes human in conversation with the Creator. Prayer is the vehicle that facilitates becoming human. That stretches the umbrella of prayer across a much wider horizon than we Christians normally conceive. Prayer can be weeping, shouting, bellowing, pleading, praising, dancing, singing and working in dialogue with God. Whatever shapes my humanness, whatever pushes me toward the image of the divine, is prayer. So, prayer is entirely an inside job. Its purpose is to change me, not change God’s mind about my circumstances.
When you pray, ask yourself if the words you speak are bringing about a change in who you are. In Hebrew, praying is a reflexive participle. It is an action that doubles back on the subject. When I pray with God, I pray to myself. My words are like the chisels and hammers of a sculptor, altering my character with tiny blows, reshaping the human being who is uttering the words. Prayer is self-effacing transformation.
Does that mean God doesn’t bother with answers? Of course not! But what good are His answers when the recipient is deaf to His voice. God’s answers flow continuously from the heavenly throne. The question is whether or not our prayers have opened our ears.
Topical Index: Prayer
