For any of us who are at least a little intrigued about the concept of hearing God, I think it’s a good starting point to consider a thing we generally call prayer.
Yes, prayer.
Prayer is a funny thing. You hear the word all of the time. A lot of people pray, or so they say. Even some of those who don’t really believe in God, admit they can pray.
Perhaps you’ve heard the familiar adage that “there are no atheists in foxholes.”With the terrible explosive shells raining all around and life hanging by the thinnest of threads, “God, please …”Or, “God, I promise that if you’ll only … I’ll …”
I’ve heard the most common type of prayer referred to as “arrow prayers.” You get the picture: We’re here on normal earth and have a very specific need or, in fact, a whole quiver of needs. We pull out our trusty bow, select the specific arrow, which is really a plea or request, and launch it heavenward.
When I’ve been in group discussions about prayer and this characterizing of the practice comes up, I’ve imagined millions and millions of arrows launching continuously around the globe, tiny little missile-like things, seeking to escape earth’s gravity. Never ceasing. Each carrying an individual request or plea, somehow relying on the hope that they will be captured by someone of great power and, accordingly, acted upon with favor.
It would be a mistake for me to imply that I’m making light of this. These are real attempts to relate to God, the God who we may believe has the power to make things better for us or those who we pray for.
Ipray these prayers. Most Christians I know pray these prayers. Some people who would not self-describe as either Christian or as “religious,” pray these prayers.
Of course, what we are all doing is either believing in or hoping for a supernatural being or reality of some sort to help us with our circumstances. And, it’s fascinating to consider what we pray for!
We pray for miraculous healing when the experts have said there is no hope. We pray for divine intervention to resolve the terrible circumstances our children are in. We pray for peace amidst violence and horror. We pray for the safe return of loved ones who travel afar. We pray that we, or someone close to us, will finally be able to get a good job because it’s been so long and so hard.
We also pray for good parking spots, that one will open up right in front of us. We pray we will find our wallet or car keys.
We pray that we will be more patient, less angry, less judgmental.
“Please, God …”
I dearly remember my first prayer. If you’re not aware, I grew up in a non-religious house. I didn’t enter a church until college and our family certainly didn’t pray. God was pretty much a foreign concept.
So it happened in the 10th grade, in the middle of the year, and I was in 2nd period Geometry with a rather severe older and never-married teacher named Miss Hurst. While I had spent my elementary school years considered something of a math prodigy, unfortunately I’d gone off course, largely due to some pretty poor teachers, and had become disenchanted with math.
On this particular day, Miss Hurst was roaming her roost and, to my dismay, directed me to go to the chalkboard in front of the class and produce the theorem and related proof that had been part of our homework. For whatever reason (I take full responsibility for my failure), I had not done the work and walked to the board with slumped shoulders, feeling her gaze and the gaze of the thirty some other students upon my back. There was complete silence as I stood in front of the board. No encouragement from my teacher. No exit strategy. My goose was cooked. I just stood there, defeated.
And then, I prayed. I don’t know who or what I prayed to. It just came out as a kind of pathetic plea for help. “Please!!”
And, at that very instant, the fire alarm bell rang.
I jerked to attention, feeling bewildered, filing out of the room with the teacher and other students while in a kind of daze, adding as I went another plea. That the fire drill would last until the end of the period. Which it did.
Chalk one up for an early proof in the existence of God.
So, why am I bringing this kind of thing up in a piece which ostensibly is about hearing God?
I believe the short answer is that we’re really talking about communicating with God and that “arrow prayers” are a common way we naturally communicate. “Here I am, Lord. I have something to say!”
In a very real sense, these are examples of one-way communication. Which, if we really think about it, kind of gives a back seat to the reverse flow: That is, God talking back.
We’ll get to a discussion of how God talks back but let’s first ask, “What’s the point in communicating in the first place?”
I’ve heard from some really wise people about this over the years. And, I’ve grown in experience that reflects a lot of this wisdom.
To put it simply, God wants to be in relationship with us. And, relationship is obviously a two-way street. It takes two to dance. At least a dance with love as the music.
We can all imagine a real-world scenario when one person in a two-person couple does all of the talking, always asking for favors. It sort of defeats the idea of balance, of a healthy give-and-take that helps the relationship to grow and blossom.
None of this is to mean that God doesn’t want us to share our requests and concerns with him. Our fears and anxieties. The deepest pleas of our hearts. In fact, he wants us to share everything with him. (Remember Jesus’ first commandment?). Our joys and sorrow. Our successes and failures. They can be big ones such as asking for medical healing or they can be smaller ones like asking for a parking space. He doesn’t care so much about the object of our plea but, instead, the fact that we’re seeking him out. And, let’s remember, he being God and all, he already knows everything about our thoughts! Nothing we ask is a surprise.
(Now I will say here that I’m not going into a discussion of why certain prayers “work” and certain ones don’t. I’m not going to address free will or predestination or what it means for God to be outside of time when we’re in it. While those things are related to this overall topic, it’s just too much to engage here.)
Instead, let’s look at prayer as the way we commune with God. The way we interact with God. The way that we acknowledge his tremendous presence and influence in our lives.
One of the earliest influences upon me in this direction came from a tiny little book by a 17th century friar named Brother Lawrence, entitled, Practice of the Presence of God. I used to keep it by my desk at work, so I would be reminded of its truths. With beautiful humility, Brother Lawrence described a framework that was basically non-stop praying. But, not praying in the sense I’ve been describing. It was more a continuous acknowledgment of the fact that God is always present and such a realization is completely transformational.
I’m no Brother Lawrence but I get his point and reflect upon it fairly frequently.
Jesus modeled a life of prayer during his public ministry. But he actually instructed his disciples on it by clearly teaching the most famous prayer of all time.That prayer begins with
“Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
I have written about this entire prayer (these words and those that follow) before. But, let’s just pause and take a quick look at this starting point. I promise it will eventually lead back to this thing about hearing God.
Without going into depth, what is commonly referred to as The Lord’s Prayer, begins with a vivid declaration of who God is and how he is involved in every aspect of creation, down to the minutest of details in our own mortal lives. In other words, he is holy, he is ever-present, and he will get his will done, one way or the other.
Taking that a step further, when we speak and mean these words, we deeply recognize who it is we’re talking to and where we stand in the scheme of things. This is the first truth about prayer. Do we know who we’re talking to?
One of the most common techniques that some Christians use to help focus their prayer life is to use a system that is contained in the acronym ACTS, which stands for Adoration,Confession, Thanksgivingand Supplication. Briefly, that means the period of “prayer” begins with a time of praising and honoring God for who he truly is. This is then followed by a reverential admission that we fall very short of leading the kind of life he seeks for us, making poor choices on a frequent basis. The third piece is to acknowledge the bounty that surrounds us; the gratitude we have for so much in our own lives and the lives of others. The final piece involves those “arrow” requests: Pleas for our own needs and the needs of others.
Of course, there are other methods of prayer, such as meditating on a phrase or even just sitting in silence, letting the mind go but, once remembered, bringing it back to focus on some specific thing about who God is and who we are in relationship with him.
So, the bottom line is this. What we can call prayer is really a way to connect with God and that begins with the recognition that we are in a relationship. A real relationship. The most important relationship of all.
And, a funny thing happens when we stop doing all of the talking. When we shut off the noise that invades our consciousness from seemingly every direction. When we seek not just solutions to many of life’s real problems and challenges; instead seeking God just for the sake of seeking God, he frequently shows up.
There are a great many instances in scriptures when prophets such as Isaiah, and even Jesus, ask us whether we have “the eyes to see and the ears to hear.” Or, merely instruct us with the likes of, “knock and it shall be opened. And, seek and you shall find.”
If we want to hear God, we need to know how to knock and what it is that we’re looking for. Whether the knocking is born from pure desperation or from a genuine interest to know God, both our heads and our hearts need to be in the game. If we want to know who and what is on the other side of the door, all we have to do is ask.
We’ll see where that leads next time.
bradlichtman 