Day Fifteen

Day Fifteen // March 13 // Stridence in Praying

“We are trying not so much to make God listen to us as to make ourselves listen to Him; we are trying not to persuade God to do what we want, but to find out what He wants us to do. It so often happens that in prayer we are really saying, ‘Thy will be changed,’ when we ought to be saying, ‘Thy will be done.’ The first object of prayer is not so much to speak to God as to listen to him.” – William Barclay –

One of the great secrets of the spiritual life is to learn to pray gently. Conversely, strident praying (where we try to plead with God to give us what we want) has a way of leaving us empty and disappointed. We must learn to master the perfect prayer, the prayer that never fails: “Thy will be done.”

When we do, we can rest in peace because, in that place, we recognize that we are not God. We don’t always know what is best; God sees that which we cannot. Someone once said that we are like a fly crawling

across an oil painting. We are so close to it that we can’t see the bigger picture.

Jesus teaches us this. In his last hours on earth, He returned to a garden He might have played in as a child. In the powerful prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus shows us the profound, honest connection He had with God. He knew that He was mere hours away from the cross. He was acutely aware of the horror, pain and embarrassment that awaited Him. Jesus shows His humanness in the agony of that prayer in two parts. The first: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” He is saying, “God, I don’t know if I can do this; it may be too hard.” His prayer was so intense, Scripture said, He literally sweat blood from His pores, but He doesn’t stop there. Even though He’s not sure he can go through with it, Jesus adds the second part of the prayer: “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” Jesus prayed the prayer that never fails: Thy will be done. We need to learn to let go. To quit pushing so hard. And to gently approach our Heavenly Father who knows what we need even before we ask – trusting in His grace and good will for us.