I need prayer.
I need your prayers, sure. I imagine at some point or another every child of God has had to say “I need your prayers” to their brethren. Part of being a Christian is dealing with the hardships of a world that hates you, realizing you can’t deal with those hardships alone, and asking those who are walking the Way beside you for help as you struggle. I need your prayers.
But I also need prayer, and I need not forget that.
I need to “do prayer.” I need to pray. I need to pray a lot more.
I need to pray a lot.
I need to remember the words to one of the most beautiful songs about prayer…
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
Those two lines occur right in the middle of the first stanza, but it’s right there where the song—which, to that point, is sung low on the register—rises to higher notes on the scale, lifting the voice with hope and confidence in much the way we lift up our prayers to the lofty throne of God. So even though we’re singing the words “distress” and “grief” we are singing them as our voices climb the scale, relieved because prayer is where we bring relief to our distress and grief.
There is a therapy in prayer, in other words. For countless years, people have understood the benefits of talking out their problems with someone willing to listen. We don’t even need advice in response; it just helps to unload all our cares and burdens on someone who loves us enough to bend their ear to us. Prayer affords us the means to express all our feelings of distress and grief on the eternally patient, understanding, and attentive Father in Heaven. What a privilege that is always readily available!
In the second stanza of the song, right in the middle of the verse, the song says…
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
The words remind me of the urgency of prayer, which is probably where I (and, I suspect, many others) falter. I sometimes don’t stop and pray until I feel like I’ve exhausted every other avenue of help. It’s not that I don’t think God can help, but I often, foolishly, don’t like to “bother” God with my problem until I am sure I can’t handle it on my own. This is a nagging struggle with me and I have to remind myself, constantly, that God is incapable of being overburdened, and desires my every care (1 Peter 5:7).
God is also incapable of being “put out.” I literally can’t go to God “too many times.” He will never grow bored of hearing all my needs and struggles. He will never tell me to give it a rest or give Him some space. He never takes a day off. He never grows tired. He will always be ready for me to give Him my problems and to ask for help. I need to learn to rush to prayer, to hasten to the place where I can approach the face of God (Hebrews 4:16).
In the final stanza of the song, starting in the middle, we find my favorite portion of lyrics…
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
The lyrics (1) force me, the singer, to express to myself the confidence that God wants me to pray, (2) reminds me of the command I must uphold by praying, and (3) leads me to resolve that I will pray more frequently than I have in the past.
First, God wants me to pray. He bids me to seek His face. Jesus told a parable whole sole purpose was to remind us how important it is, not only that we pray, but that we pray constantly (Luke 18).
Second, God commands me to pray and, as the song implies, He tethers my willingness to pray with how much faith and trust I have in Him. That’s the implication behind the model prayer He gave in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-12). I can’t just pray reactively; I have to pray proactively. I have to pray with the confidence that God will hear and do, and will provide what I need to help me. And in my faith, I will pray for things I don’t even yet need but know I will, and I will trust that God will provide for me what I need before I am even in want.
Finally, I can’t sing this song without telling myself that because God wants me to pray, and because I know I must pray, I will therefore cast on Him my every care and keep my schedule open for a sweet hour of prayer whenever the need strikes. It’s not always the first thought I have when I hit a snag, but it needs to be; I need prayer, and I need to remember how much I need it, too.
~ Matthew