Prayer as Active Asking
Several days ago the small group which my family and I attend discussed the prayer-life of Jesus. After a lengthy conversation, several of us confessed our desire to spend more time in prayer—like Jesus. But one group member spoke for more than just herself when she said, “But honestly, I don’t know what I would do if I spent more time in prayer. I’m not sure what else I would say. I’d run out of things to pray about.” She and we wanted to spend more time in prayer. But we were confused about how we’d actually spend that time.
This is most likely a symptom of a particular view of prayer. For many of us prayer primarily involves what I’ll call Active Asking. Prayer, for most of us, is an active, not passive, activity. It involves us physically doing something. Our hands fold. Our mouths open. Our tongues move. And our minds cycle through the list of needs, requests, issues, and topics. It is an active asking.
Thus, when it comes to increasing the amount of time we spend in prayer, the only increase we can imagine is an increase in that activity and that asking. We’ll need to find more things to request, more people to intercede for, more topics of conversation to process with God, and more issues requiring his divine attention. In other words, if we want to increase our prayer time we’ll need to increase our prayer list.
Not that this is bad. One thing that becomes clear by praying through the Psalms, the prayers of Jesus, the prayers of Paul, and the petitions of others in Scripture is that there are many things on the prayer lists of these godly men and women which are not on our prayer lists. We ought to spend more of our time praying about the things which show up on their prayers lists.
But there is a limit to the length of one’s prayer list. There is a limit to this side of prayer. Prayer, in Scripture, was never intended to solely be Active Asking. There is an entirely different side to prayer. It is a side of prayer new to many of us. Yet it is a side which opens grand new experiences with God and bold new opportunities in prayer.
Psalms and the Other Side of Prayer
This other side of prayer begins to peek out at us when we read through portions of the Psalms. The Psalms are certainly filled with Active Asking. There are a lot of prayer lists in the Psalms. But there’s something else there. Something that may escape our notice because it is quiet and unassuming. At first glance, it doesn’t even appear to be prayer.
One of the things which those praying in the Psalms emphasize is the importance of being quiet and still (ESV):
- Psalm 4:4 – Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.
- Psalm 23:2 – He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
- Psalm 37:7 – Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
- Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
- Psalm 62:1,5 – For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation..For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
- Psalm 131:1, 2 – O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
One of the things which those who prayed the Psalms into existence emphasize is the importance of quietness and stillness. There is a side to prayer that is less active and more passive, less doing and more being. There is a type of prayer which involves silence and stillness.
Silence and stillness are things which can conquer sinful anger (Ps. 4:4). God desires to bring us to experiences of “still waters,” restful and quiet moments (Ps. 23:2). Stillness is one of the ways in which we stop trying to take control and allow God to take control (Ps. 37:7). It is often in quiet rest that we best come to know and experience that God is truly God (Ps. 46:10). It is in times of silence that we find salvation and hope (Ps. 62:1,5). And God wishes to bring us to times with him when we are like a weaned child with its mother, resting quietly in his presence (Ps. 131:1,2).
This other side of prayer is also teased out in the Psalms through the oft-repeated theme of waiting on the Lord (ESV):
- Psalm 25:3 – Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
- Psalm 25:5 – Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.
- Psalm 25:21 – May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.
- Psalm 27:14 – Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!
- Psalm 31:24 – Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!
- Psalm 33:20 – Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
- Psalm 37:7 – Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
- Psalm 37:9 – For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
- Psalm 37:34 – Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.
- Psalm 38:15 – But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
- Psalm 39:7 – And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.
- Psalm 40:1 – I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
- Psalm 52:9 – I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly.
- Psalm 62:1,5 – For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation…For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
- Psalm 130:5 – I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.
- Psalm 130:6 – my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
There is a lot of waiting going on in the prayers and songs of the Psalms. Courage comes as we wait (Ps. 27:14). God answers as we wait (Ps. 38:15). Hope arrives as we wait (Ps. 39:7).
Waiting is something that is passive. Waiting involves a lot of standing around and doing nothing. It involves stillness. In fact, twice a psalmist ties “waiting” and “stillness” or “silence” together:
Psalm 37:7 – Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him
Psalm 62:1,5 – For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation…For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
Psalm 62 is especially instructive. David, the author, is facing significant challenges. But in the face of these difficulties, he waits silently before God (NLT):
1 I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken. 3 So many enemies against one man— all of them trying to kill me. To them I’m just a broken-down wall or a tottering fence. 4 They plan to topple me from my high position. They delight in telling lies about me. They praise me to my face but curse me in their hearts.
Silent and still waiting is so beneficial in the face of these challenges that David once more speaks to himself, telling himself to remain quiet before God:
5 Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. 7 My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
The word translated “alone” or “only” begins 5 of the verses in the Psalm. David wants to emphasize that “only God” and “God alone” is his strength and help in difficult times. The way he comes to understand this and express this is through still and quiet waiting.
Prayer as Restful Receiving
While many of us operate with a paradigm of prayer as “Active Asking” these Psalms point to another paradigm—prayer as “Restful Receiving.” Here, prayer is not acting. It is resting. Here, prayer is not asking. It is receiving. Prayer becomes less something we do and more something that is done to us. We rest in the Lord. We are quiet and still in His presence. We calmly wait—for knowledge of him, for action from him, for a word from him.
This type of prayer has become known as “Contemplative Prayer.” In a nutshell, Contemplative Prayer, or what I’m calling “Restful Receiving,” is simply spending intentional time in silence before God. It is prayer that is intentional time in silence before God. It can be for the sole purpose of resting in God and just being with God. It can be for the additional purpose of receiving something from God—knowledge of God, a word from God, some action of God’s.
Take ten minutes today—at home, in the car, on a walk, during a work-break—and just spend ten minutes in silence. Ten minutes just being with God.
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