Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. James 5:17-20
I love working with children. As I teach children of all ages, I learn so much from them. I’ve noticed that little children all over the world hide by putting their hands over their eyes. In their childish minds, they think that because they can’t see us, we can’t see them either.
How many educated, sophisticated grownups are doing precisely the same thing when it comes to prayer? As long as I can’t see it, God can’t either. We need to grow up and wise up. God already knows everything about us. Confession of sin is not for God’s benefit. God knows how many hairs are on our heads right now.
So, why do we tend to go to God in prayer, explaining things to Him, and trying to make sure God understands the full picture? I don’t think God gets irritated by the fact that we are like children, often trying to tell Him things when He knows the situation far better than we do. But, I believe it’s sad if we fail to recognize that the God to whom we pray is a God who already knows all things and loves us far more than we love ourselves, and certainly more than we love each other. God has a plan for us and His plan is good. His desire is to bless us and give us good things. So, when we come to God, we need to keep in mind the One to whom we are speaking. We need to practice ruthless honesty when we pray.
In Psalm 139 we see a tremendous example of a truthful prayer from one who knew better than to try to fool God:
O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in – behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, you right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Toward the end of his prayer, the psalmist seems to change his focus from praising and glorifying God. He remembers the wicked people all around him. He is filled with anger and lets God know that he wants the wicked people destroyed.
I can understand this; sometimes, I focus on the evil all around me. Then, God does to me what He does to the psalmist as he prayed. God brought him around to examining himself again. And, God asks me, “What about your heart?”
I need to become honest with God about what is happening in my heart. I need to cry out and ask God to search me. I know God knows everything about me, but I want to be made clean. I don’t want my prayers to reflect the false concept that I am somehow informing God as I pray. Rather, my prayers need to grow from a deep desire to be being conformed to His likeness. Pretending won’t cut it!
