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Pray for your pastor, church leadership and staff.
Complex problems call us to prayer every day in the ministry. For many years, I have studied biblical prayers and the people who prayed them. One thing I have noticed is usually problems bring people to their knees, much as they do with us.
Hannah prayed when she had conflict with “the other woman” and because of her own personal barrenness. David prayed when he was surrounded by enemies and his life was threatened. Habakkuk prayed because of the wickedness of the nation.
We can try to deny our problems or bury them with work, but that does not make them go away. A better solution is to follow the biblical pattern and pray through our difficulties. Three things about these biblical prayers will help us as we pray. The prayers are found in 1 Samuel 1,2; Psalm 109 and Habakkuk 1–3.
Each of these people came to God honestly at their point of need. Hannah came “in bitterness of soul.” We do not have the words of her prayer but we have heard fellow parishioners (or ourselves) weep in bitterness before the Lord because of life’s situations.
David felt God was far away and prayed, “O God…do not remain silent.” In the next verses of the psalm, he continues to spew out bitterness which surprises us. Habakkuk similarly felt God was not listening: “How long, O Lord, must I call for help but you do not listen?”
Sincere praying starts with openness to God about our needs. He will not be shocked as we share our feelings. He has heard worse before.
All of these people continued in prayer past what was hurting them. When you study their prayers, you can almost hear the change in tone from bitterness to belief, from fear to faith.
“My heart rejoices in the Lord” Hannah cries in 1 Samuel 2:1. David concludes his bitter prayer with these words: “With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng I will praise him” (Psalm 109:30). Habakkuk adds “I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord” (Habakkuk 3:2).
It is important that we move past the hurt and doubt. Our prayers should continue until we can praise. A generation ago this act was called “praying through.”
Note that God answered these prayers in different ways. God moved supernaturally for Hannah, but her answer came in the natural course of events. David fought his enemies repeatedly throughout his reign over Israel, but God was with him. Habakkuk accepted God’s sovereignty and made that beautiful commitment:
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength (Habakkuk 3:17–19 NIV).
Through our praise and commitment to the Lord, we are expressing our willingness to release the situation for Him to move according to His Sovereign will.
Lord, today many of us are hurting because of problems in our personal lives or in the lives of those to whom we minister. We do not try to hide our hurts, Lord, but we lay them before You in honesty and openness. We ask You to move, O Lord, in these situations so close to our hearts. We commit these situations to You and pray, ‘Your Sovereign will be done.’Amen.
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