Long-Distance Praying
Just finished a book which hit on how much of our praying tends to boil down to nothing more than intellectual pursuit: “The crisis of our prayer life is that our mind may be filled with ideas about God while our heart remains far from him” (The Way of the Heart; Henri Nouwen). Isaiah touches on the same: “’This people draw near to Me with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me…’” (29:13).
How often do we tend to keep God at arm’s length, running through a mental list of concerns and praises, and never entering into authentic communion with the Living God? Where do we cross that line of talking to Him in a monologue fashion to actually “being” within His presence? Why are we so much more comfortable with “long-distance” praying, when God longs to hear us ‘pour out our hearts before Him’ (Psalm 62:8)?
Would we prefer to keep the spiritual realm wholly intellectual, and so fend off any personal infiltration of conviction, and yes, solace and rest? Would we dare to empty the intangible of all its mystery, that we might cling to the security of tradition and, in that, hope to acquire some control?
Or perhaps what we most fear is not even the fact that we cannot grasp this God of the universe, and His infinite character which spreads itself across us in astounding mercy, but that – were we to step away from our analysis – we would have to confront our selves. Perhaps we do not often enough pray from the gut because of how dangerous a territory that is… for in it, we are forced to contend with our wretchedness in light of God’s holiness. We, like Peter, become so consumed by our filthiness before this righteous God that we cry out, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8).
And yet the gift God has imparted to us in prayer is a manifestation of the truth that He came to this world, not to condemn but to save it. We are led into that intimate communion with our Heavenly Father, not because He would leave us in the despair of our complete destitution, but because, through our recognition of the same, we can then receive with gratitude the reality that God would draw us to Himself, as “sinners embraced by the mercy of God.”
It is not for us to cower at the sin which becomes so apparent within us, but instead, for us to entrust ourselves to the One who has fashioned a way of redemption; to Him who has hewn the way for us to "draw near," not out of fearful piety or intellectual religiosity, but “with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22) which trusts that – in spite of ourselves – ‘He will receive us’ (Psalm 49:15).
How often do we tend to keep God at arm’s length, running through a mental list of concerns and praises, and never entering into authentic communion with the Living God? Where do we cross that line of talking to Him in a monologue fashion to actually “being” within His presence? Why are we so much more comfortable with “long-distance” praying, when God longs to hear us ‘pour out our hearts before Him’ (Psalm 62:8)?
Would we prefer to keep the spiritual realm wholly intellectual, and so fend off any personal infiltration of conviction, and yes, solace and rest? Would we dare to empty the intangible of all its mystery, that we might cling to the security of tradition and, in that, hope to acquire some control?
Or perhaps what we most fear is not even the fact that we cannot grasp this God of the universe, and His infinite character which spreads itself across us in astounding mercy, but that – were we to step away from our analysis – we would have to confront our selves. Perhaps we do not often enough pray from the gut because of how dangerous a territory that is… for in it, we are forced to contend with our wretchedness in light of God’s holiness. We, like Peter, become so consumed by our filthiness before this righteous God that we cry out, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8).
And yet the gift God has imparted to us in prayer is a manifestation of the truth that He came to this world, not to condemn but to save it. We are led into that intimate communion with our Heavenly Father, not because He would leave us in the despair of our complete destitution, but because, through our recognition of the same, we can then receive with gratitude the reality that God would draw us to Himself, as “sinners embraced by the mercy of God.”
It is not for us to cower at the sin which becomes so apparent within us, but instead, for us to entrust ourselves to the One who has fashioned a way of redemption; to Him who has hewn the way for us to "draw near," not out of fearful piety or intellectual religiosity, but “with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22) which trusts that – in spite of ourselves – ‘He will receive us’ (Psalm 49:15).
posted by Purple at 2:10 PM
2 Comments:
one of the coolest thing i have heard about the intellectual hunt of God:
"I was continually trying to satisfy my intellectual desire and completely forgot God was trying to satisfy my heart's."
Still miss you purple... and we are all doing another form of long-distance prayer for you. :P
love, how did i not have your blog? hoho just sent it to me! argh. i got some reading to do i see
Post a Comment
<< Home