I’m awakened in darkness by the gentle cadence of melodic prayer pouring from the loudspeaker outside my window. It is four in the morning.
The sound is sweet to my ears, though hollow and wiry.
A few minutes pass and the single voice outside my window is joined by hundreds of others, their supplication rising above the city in harmony like the lifting of the morning fog. I climb out of bed to listen.
I hear their faithfulness. I hear their reverence and devotion. I hear their earnestness, their petitions, their pleas. But more deeply, I hear their hearts, hundreds of thousands of them, full of desire to be heard and received by their god.
It is the first call to prayer, setting the rhythm for the day that lies ahead. On this beautiful island in Indonesia, over 93% of the people are Muslim. The Salat/Salah is one of the five pillars of Islam, performed five times each day:
- Salat al-fajr: dawn, before sunrise
- Salat al-zuhr: midday, after the sun passes its highest
- Salat al-‘asr: the late part of the afternoon
- Salat al-maghrib: just after sunset
- Salat al-‘isha: between sunset and midnight
Mosques speckle the landscape, their towers seen every few hundred feet. Today we have received an invitation to enter the mosque and sit with the women during the call to prayer, our heads covered with the traditional hijab.
We remove our shoes outside and step through the doorway into this unknown territory. Will we be greeted kindly? Will we be welcome here? I lift my head and smile, meeting the eyes of each woman as I greet them with a gentle nod, offering my hands in deep respect. Some women touch their nose with their fingertips after taking my hands. Others bring their hand to their chest, signs of their sincerest greeting.
The women say our faces are shining, radiant like the sun. They cannot stop looking at us. The sweet young girl beside me who is attempting to translate says the women are so distracted by us that they can’t even pray and they keep messing up their words.
I wonder, do they realize they have invited the King of kings into that very room?
They are amazed that we have come. I am amazed that they welcome us so freely and generously. My heart is burdened with love for them, my spirit full to the brim with hope for this whole nation. I speak peace and a blessing over each one as we prepare to leave. They cling to me, reluctant to let go.
What work is God doing over this nation in the spiritual realm?
I sense something on the horizon. I pray for eyes to discern. I pray for a mouth that boldly speaks His voice. I pray for His kingdom to come…
