National Day of Prayer: Shut Up and Listen
Have you ever been in a conversation with an overly-wordy-talker (OWT)? You know how those conversations unfold:
OWT: Hey you, blah, blah, blah, and then I said blah, blah, blah, blah and oh yeah… blah, blah, blah and you know blah, blah, blah…
You: Hi…
OWT: well, I think blah, blah, blah because he said blah, blah, blah also blah, blah, blah, blah blah and I meant to tell you blah, blah, blah…
You: That’s interesting, but…
OWT: No, no blah, blah, blah have you heard blah, blah, blah, and don’t forget blah, blah, blah, blah blah, blah, and who knows blah, blah, blah. What do you think?
You: You could try…
OWT: Of course, blah, blah, blah is better than blah, blah, blah and If you don’t mind blah, blah, blah, when you blah, blah, blah and then blah, blah, blah…
You: Excuse me, but…
OWT: Oh, blah blah, blah really irritates me and blah blah, blah and did you hear blah, blah, blah and I’m going to scream blah, blah, blah…
You: Wait…
OWT: Ok. Good talking to you. Bye
You: Bye (under your breath) Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.
That’s not a conversation. It’s a monologue. I wonder if that’s how God feels about our time in prayer with Him? Have you heard ourselves pray? Too often it goes something like this:
Us: Dear God, blah, blah blah, and oh my God… blah, blah blah, and don’t forget blah, blah blah, blah, blah, blah, and if you don’t mind, blah, blah, blah, and one more thing… blah, blah blah, and ok two more things… blah, blah blah, and blah, blah, blah, blah and then there’s… blah blah, blah, blah and Aunt Martha’s gout…blah, blah, blah and please, please, please… blah, blah, blah and pretty please… blah and, blah, blah, blah… ummm… Amen.
God:
Of course, I can’t speak for God. I don’t know how the Almighty responds to the too wordy, one sided monologues that we too often call prayer. I just know how I feel when a too-many-words-talker starts bending my ear. Ugh!
Today is the National Day of Prayer. How about trying this… instead of thinking of it as the National-Day-to-Place-As-Many-Requests-to-the-Almighty-As-One-Possibly-Can Day, think of it as the National Listening-for-the-Almighty-to-Speak Day.
Psalm 46:10 doesn’t say, “Blab on and on and know that I am God.” It says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Maybe we should do that on this day of prayer. Be still. Quiet. Listen. It’s being like Samuel when he took Eli’s advice in 1 Samuel 3:9 and simply prayed: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
God might be trying to say something to us, but can’t get a word in edgewise. We might be surprised at what the Lord might say if only we’d stop talking and started listening. Slow down. Quiet. Still.
In other words, (I write this in the nicest way that I can): Shut up and listen!
