It’s Month 11 of the World Race. I can’t even begin to put into words the things I’ve seen and done over the past year of life and the ways those experiences have changed me. So now is not the time to try. As I left on this trip, I was hopeful that I would be intentionally devoting the next year to bringing change to situations that break God’s heart and mine. And in a lot of ways that has been my experience.
But last night I sat in my hosts’ living room as we prepared to go to a prayer vigil at a tiny church up the mountain. You see today there is a ritual sacrifice in that village where a warlock will be seeking favor from Mother Earth for a better harvest than last year when drought and hail storms nearly ruined everything. The church was meeting to pray that the people who claim to believe in Jesus (and those who don’t, including the warlock leading the whole thing) would abandon these rituals they perform out of fear and trust in the One who sends rain on the just and the unjust.
We took communion together, shared our hearts, and then we piled in a truck to go to this tiny church where people were already praying earnestly for the hearts of these people. We sat there and interceded on behalf of people we didn’t know that the truth of God’s love would reach their hearts.
In reality, that’s the only thing we could do. I’m only here for about three weeks. The change I can affect in that time probably won’t be the same as our hosts and their friends who have already spent a year here and are dedicating their lives to influencing this community. But I could join that church in prayer.
At the beginning of Month 3, one of our alumni squad leaders challenged us with the question, “If all you could do is pray, would that be enough?”
Last night, I faced that question again. All I could do is sit in that little church and pray for the beauty of the gospel to penetrate the hearts of people who have lived their lives fearing the whims of capricious gods who have no personal interest in the lives of humankind.
That is not the God I serve, and that is not the God I was praying to last night. He loves those people, whether they love him back or not. But I am learning that prayer is more about growing to know the heart of God, unite yourself to that same heart, and seek those mutual desires.
“Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.”
– Psalm 86:11 (ESV)
We can’t change this world on our own, and God has chosen not to change things without our cooperation. He is Sovereign, but in his sovereignty, he chooses to partner with us. That means we get to participate in seeing the world changed.
Yes, sometimes that means that we actually go out and do something about the injustices of the world. Sometimes it looks like praying and letting God know that these things hurt our hearts and trusting him to set things right and restore the beauty of his good creation.
Our identity can’t be in creating those changes ourselves because we simply aren’t able to. Prayer needs to be enough because it is powerful.
The pastor of the church we visited discussed how today we talk about believing in miracles, and yet we live as practical cessationists (people who believe spiritual gifts and miracles ceased when the apostles died). We pray, and we don’t really expect anything to happen.
I want to pray and actually be surprised when I don’t see something happen. And yet I want to trust God, even when I may not see how he is moving. There’s a tension there, but I’m also learning that is something I have to lean into. God is powerful, but he also asks him to trust him. I want to walk in that trust that when I don’t know what else to do, prayer is enough.
