Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Over the past few weeks, we have been reading about and reflecting on Elijah, the prophet of God from the Hebrew Scriptures. I say “the” prophet of God because he actually refers to himself as “the lone prophet of God left” during the reign of King Ahab in northern Israel. In previous sermons, we have looked to him for lessons on how to deal with setbacks. Last week, it was indecision, and today it is on the life of prayer. We are looking at him because, as it says in the reading from James, “He was a man, a human being, just like us.”

At first glance, you might think, “Wait a minute, my life is nothing like Elijah’s. I certainly don’t think of myself as the lone prophet, and when it comes to my prayer life, well, let’s just say it doesn’t seem quite as dramatic as that of Elijah.” And then when you heard the part in James that read: “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective,” you might have even said to yourself, “Well I guess that eliminates me from having any powerful and effective prayers if you have to be righteous.”

But the truth is that “the righteous” James is speaking about are simply those for whom Christ died. We are made righteous because of what God has done through Jesus, not because of any super spirituality that we need to accomplish on our own. In other words, all of us have been made righteous through the waters of baptism and through faith.

If this is so, then, why don’t our prayers feel like they are powerful or effective much of the time? Some of us have experienced unanswered prayer far more often than powerful or effective prayers. If this sounds like something you struggle with, there are some things to be learned from the prayer life of Elijah.

As I read through 1 Kings 17-19, there were three characteristics of Elijah’s prayer life that stood out: 1. humility, 2. persistence, and 3. expectancy.

Humility. It says that Elijah bowed down and put his face between his knees. This not only speaks of his stance and how he situated his body, this says something about how he humbled himself before God. The psalmist reminds us to “be still and know that God is God.” When we remember that God is God of all we see things from a different vantage point. Prayer helps us to shift our point of view from our own concerns to that of the Creator of the Universe who loves his creation. With this realization we can imagine God hearing our own prayers as well as those of the refugee fleeing persecution, the child with a terminal illness and the prisoner on death row. God hears, tends to and desires the prayers of all. This helps us to put our prayers into perspective.

Similarly, when we are still and remember that God is God, we are invited to take a break from thinking we have to be in control all of the time. Through prayer, we can allow the masks we wear to fall away. We can lay out our failures, weaknesses and emotions before God and then experience Christ’s arms of mercy surrounding us. Have you ever wondered why it is so easy to become emotional in worship or in the middle of prayer? In these moments, I believe God has broken through the pretenses we often live with, and in doing so, opens the door to deeper communication. Humility and openness in our prayer life allows us to hear what God is trying to communicate to us more clearly.

The other characteristic of Elijah’s prayer life was one of persistence. Elijah continues to pray while asking his servant to see if it is raining seven times. Other stories in the Bible speak to the importance of persistent prayer as well. One is about someone knocking in the middle of the night trying to get his neighbor to answer the door and give him some bread. Jesus says, “Of course the neighbor will get up and give him some bread, if for no other reason than because of his persistence.” This is Jesus’ way of saying that God wants us to be persistent with our prayers. Sometimes persistent prayers change God’s mind but often they serve to change our own hearts and minds.

My children often change my mind when they are persistent. Since they were young, and after their baths, I have dried them off, and played an adapted form of peek-a-boo with them. After I dry their hair, I cover their eyes with the towel and then quickly pull it away and say, “Blah!” For some reason, they absolutely love this and they ask me to do it over and over again while giggling. I usually say “No” at first, then I say OK, but only one more time, and then with their persistence they convince me to do it over and over again. My mind is changed through their requests because I delight in their persistence. The same is true with God and prayer. God delights in us when we engage in the relationship over and over again.

Persistent prayer is not only about asking God to change or intervene, but our persistent prayers often change us as well. There was a period of my life where I was interviewing for different jobs. Before each interview, my prayer was “God, help me to get this job.” There were many seemingly unanswered prayers during that time period because I went quite a while without a job. At one point, I interviewed at a place that would have made me absolutely miserable. Everything I believed in would have been questioned at every turn. But I prayed the same prayer “God help me to get this job,” and I came very close to getting the job. But in the depths of the rejection that time—knowing how much I had strayed from who I was and who I thought God wanted me to be—my persistent searching prayers began to change me. Even though I thought my prayers were unanswered at that time, I know God was changing me in the process and opening me to walk through new doors and opportunities that were to come.  

The same might be true for you. Perhaps at one point you had a boyfriend or girlfriend who broke up with you. Perhaps your prayers to God at that moment were that you and that person could somehow be together. You would do anything. Maybe those seemingly unanswered prayers were answered prayer from the God who loves you pointing you in a new direction. God wants our persistent prayers so that our relationship with God is strengthened and so that we might be renewed in our faith over and over again.

And that brings us to the last characteristic. The last characteristic I noticed about Elijah’s prayer life was his expectancy. Elijah knew God would act and respond to his prayers for rain. He believed his prayers would be answered. We know this because he sends King Ahab to eat and prepare his chariots long before there is much evidence of any rain. His servant comes and tells him that he sees a cloud the size of a person’s hand and that is enough of a sign for him. Now I don’t know about you, but a cloud the size of someone’s hand in the sky is barely visible. It is not exactly evidence that it will rain. Nevertheless, Elijah trusts that this is God’s activity. Expectancy is trusting that God will hear, that God will bring wisdom and understanding and that God will act.

Now this does not mean that God’s activity will always come in the form and along the timeline that we would choose. Not only is that true for us, but that was true for Elijah as well. Later in 1 Kings we hear about Elijah scared, alone and waiting to hear from God. Elijah waits through heavy winds, earthquakes and fire, but God does not speak to him. Finally, it is in sheer silence where God speaks to Elijah and once again gives him direction. Expectancy means being open to the surprising ways that God responds to our prayers.

I often wonder if I witnessed one of these surprising answers to prayer on my first trip to Israel/ Palestine. Our group had stopped at a site just outside of Bethlehem. It was a structure built by King Herod called the Herodian, so while there we heard the story of the slaughter of the innocent children issued by Herod after the birth of Jesus. As we walked up the hill to the site, there were many poor children who had surrounded our group asking us to buy gum and give them money. By the time the lecture and visit were over, they had mostly disappeared.

As we were headed back down the hill to the bus, though, I saw that a woman from our group had stopped and was praying. As I passed her, one of the children with gum suddenly appeared and went directly up to her and asked her to buy some gum. In response, she yelled quite loudly, “Go away! Can’t you see I am trying to pray?!!”

At the time, I was shocked both by the irony of having listened to the biblical story we had just heard and by her abrupt response to this innocent child while praying. Over the years, as I have experienced the surprising nature of God’s answer to prayer, I have also come to believe that whatever she was praying that day, God had responded to her through that begging child being placed right in front of her. It was a surprising response though. Often because of God’s creativity and because of our inability to see with the mind of God, we can miss what God is up to right in front of us.

Today, later in the service, as we say the prayers of the people, we will be doing something a bit different. Instead of the pastors saying all of the prayers, there will be a time for you to fill in the prayers on your heart. Pastor Kris TM will introduce the topic of prayer and then she will allow us a time of silence to talk and renew our relationship with God. And then as you continue to pray at home, at work or wherever, may you develop and nurture a humble vulnerability with God, may you be persistent in your prayers with God, and may you be open and expectant about the creative ways that God will respond to your prayers. In this way, let all of us “righteous ones” pray powerful and effective prayers to God. Amen.

Let us pray. God we give you thanks for your care for all of creation. Humble us as your people and as your church, take away prideful thoughts and allow us to experience you and your power moving in our lives. Keep us persistent and deepen our love for you. Strengthen us in our faith and open our eyes to your wondrous activity that surrounds us. This we pray in the name of your Son, Jesus. Amen.

Send Take-Out to Print