Speed dialing with no signal – Dealing with frustration in prayer

Posted on March 25, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

Recently, the lyric “speed dialing with no signal” from a U2 song caught my ear. It grabbed my attention because it described my recent experience in prayer.

I take some comfort in the fact that many saints before me have had similar experience. In the Psalms, we find David and the other Psalmists asking God the question “how long?” at least twelve times (Ps. 4:2, Ps. 6:3, Ps. 13:1-2, Ps. 35:17, Ps. 62:3, Ps. 74:10, Ps. 79:5, Ps. 80:4, Ps. 82:2, Ps. 89:46, Ps. 90:13, Ps. 94:3). The “how long” question is an indication of frustration and impatience.

So I am not alone in my frustration in prayer. I am not the only one who has ever felt that his prayers were bouncing off the ceiling. Knowing that this is a shared experiece brings some comfort, but what is the solution?

As I consider this, three things come to mind as remedies to frustration in prayer:

I need to remember the character of God as revealed in Jesus.
I need to remember that Jesus teaches me to be persistent in prayer
I need to remember the two great commands

The Character of God

In John 14:9, Jesus indicates that those who have seen Jesus have seen the father. Jesus reveals to us the character of God. In Jesus, we see a God that is patient, forgiving, gentle and loving. I seen in Jesus a God who wants to grant my prayers, and if he does not grant them, there is good reason for the denial.

Persistence in Prayer

In Luke 18:1, Luke introduces a parable as one that teaches us to “pray and not lose heart.” In the parable, Jesus is giving us permission to be persistent in prayer. We are to continue to come to God with our needs and requests. There is no downside to sticking to it. I cannot over-pray.

The Two Great Commands

In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus gives us that the two great commands. The first is to love God with our entire being. The second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. I need to focus first on God and then on my neighbor. My conclusion is that I am not to focus primarily on myself.

My “speed dialing with no signal” experience has been primarily caused by lack of attention to this third focus. When I get focused on what I want, I can get rather petulant when it is not provided. I may hide my petulance or I may even spiritualize it, but it remains a behavior that God will not tolerate or reward.

In Matthew 6:33, I am told to seek God’s kingdom before all (that first great command again) and everything else will be taken care of. My job is to get my priorities straight and keep them straight.

Paths of Righteousness for His Name’s Sake

Posted on September 18, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 3 Comments

In Psalm 23:3, King David writes, “he leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

While there is benefit to me in walking a path of righteousness, my benefit is not the primary purpose of God’s leading me. David points to God’s reputation and God’s purpose as the reason for the leading.

This is freeing and challenging at the same time. It is freeing because I am not responsible for the outcome, I am only responsible to go where I am lead. God will take care of the rest.

This thought is challenging because the consequences of not following are great. Not that I can thwart God’s plan by being disobedient, but I will miss out on the blessing of being used by God if I do not follow.

I am writing this post from a men’s retreat where the speaker shared about some personal tragedies in his life. When he was going through the tragedy, he had no idea how that experience would be used by God in the future. With hindsight, the speaker was able to share how those experiences prepared him to be used to touch the lives of others who had experienced a similar loss.

Somehow I need to keep in mind that both the good and the bad experiences are allowed into my life by God for his purpose and his glory. God or bad, the experience should cause God’s name to be glorified. This will keep me from being overinflated by the good things and from being decimated by the bad.

Soli deo gloria

Enemies of Faithfulness

Posted on March 20, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

There are many things that can be listed as potential enemies to faithfulness. For the purpose of this post I have chosen three that I think are significant. These three are:

Lack of a prophetic voice
Lack of discipline
Lack of understanding

Lack of a prophetic voice

Ravi Zacharias has pointed out that one of the failings of King Solomon is that there is no evidence that he allowed a prophetic voice to be heard during his reign. David had Nathan who called him to account for his misdeeds with Uriah and Bathsheba. Solomon had no such person to confront him.

Solomon started out as a shining example of one who was dependent upon God and who followed after Him. Poor choices soon began to take their toll in his life and in the Nation of Israel. His many wives lead Solomon to worship idols and other false Gods. He also explored philosophies that are contrary to the revelation that he had available to him. He did all these things while not allowing a representative of the living God to call him to account.

Solomon became unfaithful because he stopped listening to God. In the same way, if I stop reading Scripture, if I shy away from fellowship, if I avoid Biblical preaching, I will walk away from God and will become unfaithful.

The prophetic voice is crucial to faithfulness.

Lack of Discipline

King Saul did not lack for a prophetic voice. He has such a voice in Samuel, who frequently was used by God to give instructions to the king. What Saul lacked was the discipline to put into practice the instruction of Samuel.

Saul’s disobedience with regard to the destruction of the Amalekites led to him being rejected by God as king over Israel as recorded in 1 Samuel 15. In the dialog between Samuel and Saul in this chapter, we find the famous line, “to obey is better than sacrifice.” Obedience to what God commands is much more important than religious ritual.

In the same way, I can be undisciplined in my Christian walk. I need to be intentional in my efforts to read Scripture, pray and interact with other believers. If I do not have discipline in these areas, I will move in the direction of unfaithfulness. Left unchecked, gross immorality will be the result.

I should note this is not an endorsement of legalistic rigidity. The emphasis should be on the pattern and the motivation. I am not called to a “check box” mentality. If I am in relationship with God, I need to daily spend time communicating with him through prayer and Bible reading. Some days I can invest a longer time, some days shorter, but it needs to be daily. I need to be disciplined in this.

Discipline is crucial to faithfulness.

Lack of Understanding

One of the requirements that God placed upon the kings of Israel was that they were to write out their own copy of the Law. Obedience to this command would allow the king to understand the requirements and prohibitions that God placed on the king and the people of Israel.

Rehoboam is an example of one who displayed a lack of understanding. Solomon, his father, left the nation under a heavy tax burden. Instead of relieving the burden when he became king, Rehoboam increased it which resulted in much of his kingdom seceding under the leadership of Jereboam. Had Rehoboam consulted the law of Moses, he would have known of the prohibitions against building up an army and would have understood that his role was to protect and guide the people. The king was to function for the benefit of the people and not the other way round.

In the same way, I feel the need to ingest enough Scripture so that I understand God’s mind on the issues that face me on a daily basis. Lack of understanding is an enemy to faithfulness.

How can I be faithful to God if I do not spend sufficient time in his word so that I understand what he requires of me?

Understanding is crucial to faithfulness.

The common denominator

The common denominator in these three items is Scripture. I need to allow it to convict me, I need to be interacting with it daily, and I need to work hard at understanding it. These three activities are the antidote to the three enemies of faithfulness I outlined above.

By reading Scripture, I gain a sense of what to do. By practicing obedience, I can put the Scriptural commands into practice. By the reading of Scripture, I also gain a sense of when I am going wrong, thus allowing the prophetic voice to provide correction before I go completely off the path.

Thank-you God for providing such a resource. Scripture is crucial to faithfulness.

If it is spoiled, throw it out

Posted on December 14, 2010 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

This evening I read 1 Kings 9 where God answers Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the Temple. In 1 Kings 9:8 God tells Solomon that the Temple will become a heap of ruins if Israel and her kings go after other gods and serve them.

The thought struck me this evening that the Temple, as opulent as it was, only had value if it helped the Israelites focus on their God. The Temple was a symbol to remind the nation of the God they were to serve and worship.

Contrary to what the Israelites may have thought, God did not value the building, he valued the response that the Temple was supposed to elicit in the worshippers. God wanted their hearts fully tuned to himself. When the Israelites no longer were affected by the Temple in this way, the Temple had to go. At best it then became a distraction. At worst, it gave a veneer of legitimacy to their spiritual misdeeds.

In the same way, we in the Church, have struggled to throw out the practices that no longer bring us closer to God. We cling to types of music, styles of dress, hair styles, programs and even Bible translations as though we loose a piece of God if we let these things go. I doubt that God cares about the style of music or dress with which we approach him; he wants our hearts, and he wants them in their entirety.

In business there is a proverb, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” When our methods and traditions no longer deepen our relationship with God and no longer assist us in our commission to make disciples, then they should be tossed. To keep repeating the same action and expecting a different result is insane. Let us choose sanity.