Dear New York Times

Dear New York Times,

Recently you published an opinion essay, “You Might Consider Praying,” by Sara Sherbill, with sentiments that crushed my heart. Snippets of truth swirled together with error, and opinions that, if swallowed whole, will lead many far from God.

I want to humbly offer God’s opinion to our largely confused world since his thoughts are the ones of consequence. God’s voice burns and glows, a bright candle in this dark and desperate world. His voice is clear, precise, and razor-sharp, separating truth from lies.

God speaks through the Bible, the only Book containing everything we need to know about him. It is the plumbline with which we are to measure ourselves.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

So I invite you to look down to the Bible in order to look up to God.

Then, and only then will you and I be able to know what pleases the Lord.

Only then will we know how to pray.

To Whom Do We Pray?

Sherbill’s piece states:

“Many of us were raised to believe that prayer is about communicating with God. It can be, of course. But prayer can also be a way of communicating with ourselves, a tool of self-inquiry. It can be entirely our own, bespoke.

You might direct prayer toward those you have lost: In my case I think of my grandfather, or my best friend who died in April after a long battle with cancer. What if prayer is asking those who are gone to watch over us? Maybe your prayer is a walk in the morning that takes in the world around you, observing the light bouncing off the leaves. It seems to me that, too, is a prayer. Who is to say it is not?“

I can assure you, from Scripture, that prayer is not communication with yourself, or any other person, alive or deceased. We pray only to God.

Prayer is not a tool of self-inquiry, or a soliloquy, entirely our own. Nor is prayer observing the beauty of light bouncing off the leaves.

Ought we enjoy the beauty of God’s Creation? Indeed, and praise him for it! But happy thoughts or delight in trees and sunlight do not equal prayer.

The problem lies in the author’s admission: “It seems to me that, too, is prayer. Who is to say it is not?”

The things we drum up in our minds, in our personal preferences, and in our wandering hearts are insignificant.

What matters is what God says.

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My three-year-old grandson knows how to pray, hands clasped, eyes scrunched. He talks to God, happily learning as his parents teach him the Bible and the ways of Jesus.

Christ Jesus taught us how to pray and modeled the pattern for us. Prayer is born from humility, a heart posture of reverent submission before the One, True, Holy, God.

We pray by speaking directly to God, and him alone.

Read the words of Jesus from Matthew 6:9-13:

^9″Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,
¹² and forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.”

From these verses, Jesus teaches us to pray personally to our Heavenly Father. We are to be wholly God-centered, praying for his will to take place here on earth just as it is being fulfilled in heaven.

Jesus instructs us to rely upon God as we ask him to provide our food, water, and shelter–our daily bread. We are charged with asking God’s forgiveness for our own sins as we pardon those who transgress against us. The final verse is a prayer for help in eschewing sin, which is always crouching at our door. (Genesis 4:7)

This is true prayer. We tune our hearts to him because he is God and we are not.

//

Dear New York Times,

The opinion piece you published was authored by a woman who has certainly faced a heaping portion of heartache, and I hear the anguish in her words. Suffering is universal, and I am grateful that God blessed us with Scripture, teaching us how to pray in our deepest cellars of affliction.

The Bible graces us with another prayer, a deep plea from Jesus, an entreaty to God the Father. Consider how Jesus prayed amidst his deepest distress on the infamous night preceding his crucifixion:

And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:41-44)

Jesus withdrew from his disciples and made his requests known to his Heavenly Father, asking for his cup of suffering to be removed, yet only if it was God’s will. There remained a nevertheless song on his lips, a pulsing in his heart: not my will, but yours be done. An echo of the Lord’s Prayer–Your kingdom come, your will be done–from Matthew 6.

Christ was in such anguish that his sweat became like great drops of blood. Even so, he remained surrendered to the will of God, as angels strengthened him. We too, may approach God boldly in prayer, asking him to abolish our suffering, if that be his will. If he chooses not to remove our cup, we are called to trust him in faith, just as Jesus did.

Why?

Isaiah 46:9-10 is stunningly clear:

Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’

//

From Sherbill’s essay:

“Someone will hear your prayer, even if that someone is you.“

This statement is wildly unhelpful, hazy; shapeless. I am left with the perception of my prayers ascending to a nameless, faceless, void. Crossing my fingers and hoping someone hears my cry.

And if it is just me hearing my own voice? Well now, that is fine and dandy, too.

How sad and absurd.

Here is what the Bible says:

The Lord is far from the wicked,
    but he hears the prayer of the righteous. (Proverbs 15:29)

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. (John 9:31)

The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth. (Psalm 145:18)

//

The opinion piece ends with this:

“Maybe our prayer looks nothing like we thought it would. Maybe that’s because our lives look nothing like what we thought they would. And maybe that’s the point — we need to learn how to pray again so we can see ourselves anew.“

My response?

We must learn how to pray biblically so that we may rightly see ourselves: wretched sinners in dire need of a Savior.

And Who is that Savior?

God’s Son.

His name is Jesus.

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Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

(John 14:6)