Learning to Pray: Humbly

Lesson 1: Know your place

Let's face it, as kids grow in their indepence, they often forget their place. How many of us have stood with mouth agape at the audacity of our own offspring? Indignation wells up in us, inspiring such thoughts as, "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it." Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we hopefully refrain from speaking such truths out loud until they are free of our ego and tempered by love!

No doubt, God often experiences the same feelings toward His children as we come to Him (or don't!) in prayer. Consider the following passages from Isaiah:

Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! 
    For the Lord has spoken: 
“I reared children and brought them up,
    but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its master,
    the donkey its owner’s manger, 
but Israel does not know, 
    my people do not understand. ” (1:2-3)
...

When you spread out your hands in prayer,
    I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
    I am not listening. (1:15)

And yet, what grace it is that this almighty, all-powerful and righteous God longs to be near us and invites us to come humbly before Him, confident of His love!

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
    therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. 
For the Lord is a God of justice. 
    Blessed are all who wait for him!
People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. 
How gracious he will be when you cry for help! 
As soon as he hears, he will answer you. (30:18-19)


This summer, our church will be learning how to draw close to God in prayer, primarily through the pattern Jesus gave us in the Lord's Prayer (see Matt. 6:9-13). But before Jesus taught His disciples WHAT to say, He first taught them HOW to say it: in a word, humbly (see Matt. 6:5-8). To illuminate this idea of humility, we looked at (and acted out) a story Jesus told of two men with very different attitudes in prayer: one arrogant and self-righteous, the other humble and repentant (see Luke 18:9-14). We talked (and sang) about the importance of knowing that God is THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, not a vending machine. We pray so that He can change us and help us to do His will, not so that we can get Him to do our will. We will be returning to this idea all summer as we seek to SYNC UP our hearts with God's! (Ask you kids how they are like an iPhone.)

You know, we never know what is getting through when we teach, and we trust that God's Spirit, not us, will change kids' hearts. So I was stuck this week when a few kids spontaneously chose to kneel as I prayed to close our lesson. Truly, I believe that came from a desire to express their humility and not from a desire to appear holy before their peers. Please pray with me that God will continue to shape the hearts of our children (and us!) into those who know our place and yet pray eagerly, trusting fully in the love of our powerful Heavenly Father.