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Get Out of That Pit

By Philip Yancey

Philip Yancey is considered one of the most significant Christian thinkers of our generation, and his books make the reader think. This treatise on prayer is divided into five parts, each of which includes several chapters.

Yancey is thorough not only in the aspects of prayer that a plethora of books on the subject addresses; but he tackles the hard issues—the aspects of prayer that nobody really wants to think about. In addition to the question posed in the book’s title, Yancey grapples with unanswered prayer, and why some people are healed in response to prayer and others are not—why some women have healthy children in response to prayer, and others have children with Down syndrome.

We are all familiar with the Lord’s Prayer, but Yancey discusses in length other significant prayers of the Bible: Abraham’s plea for Sodom; Jehoshaphat’s prayer for victory; Ezra’s intercession for the sins of his people; Daniel’s prayer for the salvation of Jerusalem; and Jesus’ prayer for His disciples. Studying prayers like these, Yancey suggests, helps the pray-er “learn the wisdom of reviewing the big picture, of placing my own small story in the context of God’s story.”

Sprinkled throughout the book are various writers’ personal accounts of some aspect of prayer, as well as quotes from notable pray-ers such as George Müller, Susannah Wesley and Martin Luther.

Prayer is a discipline we cannot afford to neglect. To quote author Henri Nouwen, “We cannot plan, organize or manipulate God; but without a careful discipline, we cannot receive Him either.”

PATTY KENNEDY is assistant web content editor for the national Women’s Ministries Department. She also writes book and music reviews for Pages and Tunes, a free e-newsletter provided by the national Women’s Ministries Department.

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