and He heard my voice...
"Friend, no prayer is more effective than the one that finds its roots in the pages of God's Word. Jonah challenges us: Have we taken time to inscribe God's Word on our hearts so we have a framework of verses to construct our prayer in the time of need?"
-Priscilla Shirer
Since November, the women's Bible study at church has been slowly moving through Priscilla Shirer's study of Jonah and the divine intervention that God orchestrated in his life. I'm so happy we're doing this study because basically all of 2011 could be applied to the lessons Jonah's story has to teach us about perspective, God's timing, and our willingness to be servants to His call. Back in April, I picked up Life Interrupted hoping to gain some encouragement, and found myself overwhelmed with all the truth that Priscilla had to share. I'm thankful that, when we picked up this study seven months later, our group has taken the time to slowly digest the scripture and life applications that Priscilla addresses in Jonah's experience.
Tonight, our focus was on Jonah's example of prayer when he found himself in the belly of the fish that saved him from drowning at sea. We found that his prayer was completely based off of scripture in the Psalms and discussed the quote I shared at the beginning of this post. First of all, it made me convicted that my prayers are often centered around my wants and desires and I rarely take the time to praise and give thanks as I should. After addressing that challenge, we discussed why it would be good practice to incorporate scripture in more of our prayer time.
My aunt pointed out how Isaiah 55:11 says, "so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and will achieve the purpose for which I sent it." What God says will come to pass and God's words are filled with power. Using scripture in prayer shows God that we remember the promises he has given us and that we are expecting to see them fulfilled.
It also reminded me of my daily life in the classroom. Most days, there are specific directions that my students need to follow at some point, whether they're completing our daily warm-up routine, taking a quiz, or completing a lab with their groups. With each of these activities, they are expected to follow a set of instructions that I have given them, and these directions are always written for their reference as they complete their task. At the beginning of one of these new activities, I painstakingly have them read through the instructions with me, yet I can always count on that one kid to raise his or her hand right before they begin and ask a painfully obvious question that could be answered if they had only paid attention. Out of frustration, I can get impatient with this, especially when it happens multiple times a day, every day.
But what is the Bible for us? God's beautiful word, a set of instructions for how to live our lives and ultimately continue into eternity in His presence through Jesus Christ. When we pray and quote scripture back to him, it's as if we are confirming that we have, indeed, read the instructions. We're showing God that we have taken advantage of what he's provided for us and that we aren't being ignorant, but maintaining our focus on what's important. The effective prayer comes from knowing God's Word and trusting that God will do what he says.
Maybe when we pray without direction or repetition, and the response is simply silence, that's God's way of pointing us back into what he's already spoken to us; encouraging us to dig a little deeper and find the answers that are already there.