Exercise Machine
It’s been sat in the corner of the garage, seldom used, making me feel guilty. It was a new year’s resolution from a number of years ago – an exercise machine. They say most people have given up their resolutions by February, and certainly with the darker mornings and evenings it seems less easy to motivate ourselves. When it came to prayer, Jesus disciples also found it hard to motivate themselves – they fell asleep in the garden rather than continuing to pray. ‘The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak’ Jesus remarked, a phrase that has become common parlance. What do you feel about prayer? Is it a bit like that forgotten exercise machine? Is it a bit like a one way telephone line?
Prayer need not be complicated, we don’t have to find special words that will make God listen to us. He listens to us because he loves us. We can pray to him like we speak to a best friend. Simpler prayers are fine: E.g. ‘Lord, help me with this situation at work/school/home’ or ‘Lord, help me to know what’s right to do about….’ It’s also good to pray for others, as well as our own needs, and this is one of the reasons why we pray, to bring the needs of other people before God, asking him to help them.
The book of Psalms in the Old Testament is a book of prayers and songs, written many hundreds of years ago. The words are brutally honest but this is encouraging for us – the psalmist tells it how it is, the things he struggles with, his hopes and fears, and we can similarly be honest with God in our prayers, as in Psalm 55:
“Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught. My heart is in anguish within me; Fear and trembling have beset me; I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.”
The Psalmist concludes with an exhortation to trust in God during these times: “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.”
Our prayers are not always answered in the ways we expressly desire – but God sees all ends and knows what is best for us, and He is faithful. Why not Try Praying in February?
With every blessing
Rev’d Andrew Hiscox