Prayer is a major aspect in the observance of Lent. And yet there is much fog that needs to be cleared in our understanding of this great channel of communicating with the Almighty God, our heavenly Father. For sure, Lent is a time of great spiritual breakthroughs — if we get the concept of prayer right. Prayer as a spiritual exercise is a two-way communication between God and Christians. It involves speaking and listening on both sides. That seems pretty clear. What seems foggy is whose voice matters most.
God loves to make His mind clear to His children and to answer our prayers. Many passages assure us of this. In Psalm 18, for instance, we see the result of the Psalmist’s prayer as God moved all creations to come to the aid of His own. But let us take these few other instances: Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you;” Psalm 50:15, “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Every time we go to the Lord in prayer, we must go with the conviction that, however, strong our desires are, God’s will is final. Prayer helps us to discern His will and to submit, not that we want to convince Him about our desires and win Him to our side. There is something important we can learn from the account of God’s call to young Samuel. As the young boy heard the strange voice and ran to Eli the first and second times, the old priest discerned that God might be trying to get the boy’s attention and he counselled: “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’”
So, Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.” (1Samuel 3:9-10, NLT). That is the golden rule in prayer. Even though we have said it is a two-way speaking and listening, it is never to be “Listen Lord, Your servant is speaking.” True, the Psalmist pleaded with God many times to hear his voice (see Psalms 64:1;119:149; 130:2), but it was a voice that was willing to be submissive to God’s voice.
We have much to learn from the prayer life of the Lord Jesus Who, as He prayed at the grave of Lazarus, said: “Father, I thank you that you have heard me,” (John 11:41). Again at the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36). He was submissive to the Father’s will. (see also Hebrews 5:7–8). The apostolic voices follow suit. Paul tells the Corinthians about his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9.
The Old Testament saints were familiar with this pattern of submission to God in prayer. In Deuteronomy 3:26, God stopped Moses from making a particular prayer anymore; in 1Samuel 8:22, God told the prophet Samuel to listen to the people’s request; in Babylon, the Hebrew children confessed that God reserved the right to not deliver them from the fire, and yet remain the God worthy of their obedience and worship (see Daniel 3:17-18). We too must learn that, in prayer, God’s will is the most important and we must submit with the prayer, “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” (Matt. 6:10).
• The Most Rev. Emmanuel Egbunu is the Bishop of the Diocese of Lokoja
