Keeping Company with God
The Book - Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference by Philip Yancey
Reading Philip Yancey’s book raised a lot of questions for me. His book did not shy away from the hard questions in any capacity, which, in turn, led me to evaluate what my prayer life really looks like.
Yancey used personal stories and a multitude of accounts that had been shared with him over the years to dive into every imaginable aspect of prayer. From looking at the mysteries of prayer to the ways we pray to unanswered prayers, Yancey addresses it all.
I was left pondering three questions of my own: Why do we pray? Does prayer actually matter? Are we on God’s side?
Why do we pray?
At its most basic, the reason we pray is because Jesus prayed. It is as simple and complex as that. Jesus prayed for others, to connect with the Father, and for practical concerns. He also often went off and prayed alone. We can draw much from just observing Jesus’s examples in the gospels.
If Christ saw prayer as a necessity, how can we do anything less? Even when it seems pointless, when nothing seems to be happening, and when we can’t see that it has any effect, we need to keep praying.
Yancey goes on to say, “Prayer is cooperation with God, a consent that opens the way for grace to work” (103). Prayer is a way for us to connect with God, to be in a relationship with Him, and for God to work through us, even when His ways seem strange to us.
Truly, we cannot know the mind of God, as Isaiah 55 reminds us. His ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours. While this may feel like a cop out of an answer, it also needs to be a truth with which we wrestle.
Does prayer actually matter?
Yancey would be the first one to bring up a dizzying multitude of stories, personal or otherwise, that might illustrate people’s frustrations with prayer. You could probably bring up any number of times that prayer has seemed to fail you or the ones you love. So why do we keep praying? Does it even matter?
Yancey writes, “I cannot, nor can anyone, promise that prayer will solve all problems and eliminate all suffering. At the same time, I also know that Jesus commanded his followers to pray, certain that it makes a difference in a world full of opposition to God’s will” (87). To borrow an idea from another book, God is not a magic genie, and praying to God is not like making a wish (Valerie Woerner’s Pray Confidently and Consistently).
Yancey is forthright in acknowledging the truth we dislike: Some prayers don’t get answered. Then, when our prayers go unanswered, we may get mad at God and turn our backs on Him. But what if, instead, we wrestle with God?
Are we on God’s side?
This was a unique thought for me. I’ve never even considered whether I was on His side. I have been a believer since I was a child. I have actively tried to grow in my faith since then. Yet, it never crossed my mind that I might not be on God’s side. It is an uncomfortable idea to say the least.
Yancey recounts the intriguing concept of contradictory prayers by illustrating prayers from both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, Northerners and Southerners, during the Civil War. Both sides were firmly convinced that they were in the right and on God’s side. Yancey paraphrases Lincoln: “Lincoln gently cautioned [both Northern and Southern clergy] to inquire instead whether they were on God’s side. Finite humans can never know the will of an infinite God with absolute certainty” (227-228).
How often do we claim with ‘absolute certainty’ that we know exactly what God wills in any given situation? Consider the chaos of our own political and social climate in the United States. How often do people claim (quite loudly) to be on God’s side in this situation or that? How often should we instead humble ourselves, acknowledge we don’t actually know, and leave room for God to work?
Curiously, God has long since committed to working with humans. He established that pattern all the way back in Genesis 1. Despite our fallibility and ineptness, He continues to work in and through human partners. In fact, “as God’s coworkers we are encouraged to submit our requests, our desires, our petitions in prayer” (101). He invites us to communicate with Him in the midst of our mess, whether of our own making or another’s.
He knows we’ll ask for the wrong things. He knows we don’t know the whole picture. He knows that we’ll be disappointed and angry with Him. But He wants us to keep wrestling with Him, just as Jacob did in Genesis 32. Yancey writes, “not communicating is worse than fighting. In a wrestling match, at least both parties stay engaged” (98). God wants us to stay engaged with Him. When we stop praying, we stop engaging with Him. God can handle anything we throw at Him. We just need to keep talking to Him. As Yancey recommends, “Keep it honest, keep it simple, keep it up” (191).
In the end, that’s all that ultimately matters, that we continue “keeping company with God” no matter what.
A Practice - Praying Scripture
Praying Scripture may be a prayer practice with which you are already familiar. In this practice, you use the words you read in Scripture as you pray. Adele Ahlberg Calhoun in the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook writes, “Praying Scripture allows God to direct the content of prayer. It opens the heart to praying particular prayers, psalms, teachings and hopes found in the Bible” (278). Using Scripture can provide words for our prayers when we’re not sure what to say.
There have been many times when I feel at a loss for words when I’m praying. All I can say at times are things like, “God, please help” or “God, I don’t know how to pray for this.” These are the times when I can turn to God’s Word for comfort and help.
The psalms in particular are an excellent place to start as they are prayers. They invite us to come to God just as we are in the midst of the mess of life. The various writers of the psalms wrote from places of pain, distress, fear, joy, wonder, and more. If you go to the New Testament, you can pray through any number of prayers that Paul writes in his letters. I would recommend starting with a book like Ephesians. There are prayers in 1:15-19 and 3:14-20, but there are also many other portions of text that you can transform into a prayer like 1:3-14 or 2:1-10. And, of course, there’s the Lord’s Prayer that is a model as well.
In praying Scripture, you can turn the words back to God. Start by reading the passage, making sure you understand what it is saying. Look up any words you don’t know. Additionally, you may need to look up some of the context to know more about what was happening as well. Then reading through it slowly, praying it back to God. Let it inform your praise, your confession, your thanksgiving, or your actions. You can even turn it into a written prayer if that works better for you.
I’ll leave you with a personal example from Psalm 13.
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long will I store up anxious concerns within me,
agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?
Lord, I feel forgotten like you don’t see me anymore. I have all these worries building up. Sometimes all I feel is fear: fear for the future, fear for the unknown, fear that I’ll mess it all up.
Consider me and answer, Lord my God.
Restore brightness to my eyes;
otherwise, I will sleep in death.
My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
Lord, I know you are good. You are the Sovereign Creator. Nothing is outside of your control. You know all things and have the power to make all things work out the way they should . Lord, do not let my fears overtake me. Let me see and know your goodness and joy.
But I have trusted in your faithful love;
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
I will sing to the Lord
because he has treated me generously.
Father, I still choose You. I still choose to trust in You. Guide me in Your ways and Your truth. May my thoughts, words, and actions glorify You. Please, walk with me throughout my day. May I experience your joy and love and peace. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
