Getting Past Goldilocks Prayers

 

  

 

Sometimes my prayers are a bit like Goldilocks:

This one’s too small…

This one’s too big….

This one’s just right.

 

This One’s Too Small

There have been times when I’ve considered praying about something and I’ve thought: No, surely the God of the universe, the Almighty, doesn’t care about something this insignificant.  For example, anytime I lose something (keys, wallet, checkbook, etc.) my first reaction is to pray something like, “God, please help me find what I’ve lost.”  But my second reaction is just the opposite.  A little voice whispers in my ear “Don’t bother God with this.  He’s got better and bigger things to take care of.”

 

Can you identify? 

 

Here’s a list of some of the things I rarely pray about because I tend to think they are just too undersized for the Almighty:

·        That I would have a quick recovery from a minor illness like a cold.

·        That a routine meeting at the office would go well.

·        That I would make the right decision about which car-repair to have done and which should be put off.

·        That I would know what kind of exercise I should do on a given morning (run, swim, bike, lift weights, etc.).

 

How about you?  What would be on your “it’s-too-small-to-pray-about” list?

 

Yet Jesus seems to push back against this thinking in his model prayer, the one we call the Lord’s Prayer.  After all, Jesus teaches us to pray for our “daily bread” or “bread for the day.”  Certainly, for the hungry, daily bread is no small thing.  It may be the biggest issue of the day.  Yet nowhere does Jesus suggest this line is only for the poor.  Jesus doesn’t say, “And if you are poor, you should pray, ‘Give us this day our daily bread’—if you aren’t poor you can skip that line.”  No.  The petition for daily bread is a petition for us all.  True, the prayer is corporate—“Give us our daily bread”—and thus it forces me to pray for those who may have difficulty acquiring bread that day.  Yet there is a “me” in that “us.”  I include myself in that “us.”  Jesus wants me to pray about my daily bread as surely as he wants me to pray for yours.  The three meals (and more) I eat each day are to be a constant topic of my prayers.  It seems a small thing.  But it’s not.

 

Paul seems to push back against the Goldilocks syndrome when he writes this in Philippians 4:

“…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:6-7 ESV)

 

The two key words are “in everything.”  Everything, especially those things that may cause us anxiety, is to be made known to God in prayer.  Only when everything is lifted in prayer may we experience the peace that passes understanding.

 

I’m not suggesting we should start asking God to give us a good parking space when we go to the mall.  But perhaps we should reconsider at least some of the things on our “it’s-too-small-to-pray” list.  At least some of these things are just right for prayer.

 

This One’s Too Big

There is another challenge I face in prayer.  It’s just the opposite of the first problem.  Not only is there often a glaring absence of small things included in my prayers.  But there is also often a glaring absence of big things included in my prayers.

 

At times, my prayers rarely reach outside the boundaries of my own little world.  They tend to be centered around issues related to my life, my family, my friends, my church, my tasks, my coworkers, my city, my state, my government, my race, my gender, and my country.  It’s uncommon to find on my prayer list things related to other churches in the area, those who work in the thousands off offices besides mine, the numerous cities around mine, the governments of foreign countries, and people groups in other countries.

 

If my prayers were a car, they’d rarely get above 65 miles per hour.  If there were a plane, they’d infrequently fly higher than 20,000 feet.  If they were an elevator, they’d probably stop at the tenth floor.  They tend to be stay in the mid-range—not too fast, not too slow; not too high, not too low.

 

But recently I re-read some of the prayers in the Bible.  Some of them not only exceed 65 miles per hour, they break the sound barrier.  Some of them are bigger and bolder than any I’ve ever prayed.  Here’s a short list:

 

Abraham Prays for a Sinful City

23 Abraham approached him and said, “Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked? 24 Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city—will you still sweep it away and not spare it for their sakes? 25 Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”  (Gen. 18:23-25 NLT)

 

Moses Passionately Intercedes for the Israelites

30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin, but I will go back up to the Lord on the mountain. Perhaps I will be able to obtain forgiveness for your sin.”  31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a terrible sin these people have committed. They have made gods of gold for themselves. 32 But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, erase my name from the record you have written!” (Ex. 32:30-32 NLT)

 

The Psalmist Prays for All Things to Praise God

1 Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord from the heavens!  Praise him from the skies!  2 Praise him, all his angels!  Praise him, all the armies of heaven!  3 Praise him, sun and moon!  Praise him, all you twinkling stars!  4 Praise him, skies above!  Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!  5 Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being.  6 He set them in place forever and ever.  His decree will never be revoked.  7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, 8 fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him, 9 mountains and all hills,  fruit trees and all cedars, 10 wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, 11 kings of the earth and all people,  rulers and judges of the earth, 12 young men and young women, old men and children.  13 Let them all praise the name of the Lord.  (Ps. 148:1-13 NLT)

 

Nehemiah Confesses the Sins of a Nation

3 They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”  4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. 5 Then I said, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! 7 We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.  (Neh. 1:3-7 NLT)

 

Joshua Prays for the Sun to Stand Still

12 On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel. He said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.” 13 So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies.  Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day. 14 There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day!  (Josh. 10:12-14 NLT)

 

Jesus Prays for Global Christian Unity

20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. (Jn. 17:20-21 NLT)

 

The Believers Pray for Boldness

23 As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. 24 When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—25 you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, ‘Why were the nations so angry?   Why did they waste their time with futile plans?  26 The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’  27 “In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. 28 But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will. 29 And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. 30 Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”  31 After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Ten they preached the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:23-31)

 

The Prayers of God’s People Rock the World

1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour. 2 I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets.  3 Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. 5 Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake. (Rev. 8:1-5 NLT)

 

These prayer take prayer to new heights!  They are some of the biggest and boldest prayers every prayed.  They inspire me to push the boundaries of my own prayers.

 

Radical Prayer

Richard Foster calls this type of prayer “Radical Prayer.”[1]  It’s aim, he writes, “is the total transformation of persons, institutions, and societies.”[2]  Radical Prayer is “a spiritual underground resistance movement” which strives to undermine the status quo.[3]  In these prayers, Foster writes, we “stand firm against racism, sexism, nationalism, ageism, and every other ‘ism’ that separates and splits and divides.”[4]  This is the kind of prayer in which we “stretch our arms out wide and embrace the whole world.”[5]  We “throw caution to the wind and pray not just for individuals but also for nations, not just for the renewal of the Church but also for the transformation of the world.  We pray for and work for the kingdom to come on earth—on all the earth—as it is in heaven.”[6]

 

Radical Prayer reminds us that not only is nothing too small for prayer, nothing is too big for prayer.  It calls us to extend the boundaries of our prayer concerns to eventually encompass every issue plaguing the planet and its people.

 

Praying Bigger Prayers

How might we begin to push the boundaries of our prayers?  There are many ways.  One way is to allow the daily paper to prompt larger-than-normal prayers.  For example, here are the front pages of the main sections of today’s newspaper in Memphis.  Notice how each one might lead us toward larger prayers:

 

The front page moves me to pray for the many on the East Coast of the United States who suffered from the earthquake.  This, in turn, reminds me to pray for those in Haiti still recovering from the earthquake that shook their homes months ago.

 

This page moves me to pray about all the wars and conflicts taking place all around the world.  It moves me to pray for God’s peace to reign on the earth.  Additionally, the page prompts me to pray about all of those caught up in abusive situations.

 

This page reminds me to pray for the many who do not enjoy what I do on these hot days: a cool place to work and live.  It further reminds me to pray about crime in our city and in all cities.

  

This page reminds me to pray in general about the economy of the United States.  This, in turn, makes me pray about the economies around the world.  The page also prompts me to remember the many businesses and business owners not only in my city but around the world.

  

This page makes me want to pray not only for the individual struggling with dementia, but for all those who do, and for their families.

 

There are certainly other ways to enlarge our prayers.  Whatever works for you, do it.  Let’s move beyond the Goldilocks prayers that are always “just right.”

 

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