Life as an Interruption to Prayer

If your prayer life is like mine, you probably recognize a need for improvement. However, the journey into a deeper prayer life can be a difficult one. But, it's worth it!

"Be not afraid of slow progress. Rather, be afraid of no progress."

Following, is a suggestion for a passage to read with your attention on prayer and some of my observations, comments and a practical suggestion. It's good to read the passage yourself and make your own observations before reading mine.

Read Matthew 14.

[6] But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, [7] so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. [8] Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” [9] And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. [10] He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, [11] and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. [12] And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. [Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand] [13] Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. [14] When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. [15] Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” [16] But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” [17] They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” [18] And he said, “Bring them here to me.” [19] Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. [20] And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. [21] And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. [Jesus Walks on the Water] [22] Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. [23] And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,

My observations, comments, practical suggestion:

Sometimes interruptions are opportunities. In other words, not all interruptions are bad. Jesus wanted to be alone, but when the people found out where He was, they came to Him. He did not send them away, but healed their sick and fed them. But notice that afterward He resumed His prayer time.

My friend, Jeremy, said that Jesus didn't look at prayer as interrupting life, but that, for Jesus, life interrupted prayer.

If, in prayer, we seek to be more like Jesus, we will need to pay attention to interruptions. However, being like Jesus doesn’t mean responding to any and all interruptions.

Here is a suggestion:

Keep a pad of paper with you when you pray. If something comes to mind that seems important or distracts you from your prayer, write it down. Then, ask if that interruption requires immediate action. If it does, be obedient and address it. If it doesn’t, you need not worry about forgetting about it later, for you have written it down. You can resume praying!
Keep in mind that even if you stop praying to attend to an important interruption, your prayer time with God is still important. You should make every effort to come back to it.

Praying

Something that can make listening to God difficult, is that we, on some level, think we know what God is going to say.
In other words, we are often all too familiar with the ways that we have fallen short and know that we are in for a beating when our Father gets ahold of us!

I have two comments about this:

1) It's ok for us to look into the face of God and realize how unworthy we are. In fact, it can't be avoided. God's utter holiness and glory is unfathomable and stands in stark contrast to our dirty rags. BUT, take a look at the next two passages and see what God says and does for Isaiah and Peter when this situation arises:

Isaiah 6:1-7

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."

⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Luke 5:4-11

[4] And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” [5] And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” [6] And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. [7] They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. [8] But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” [9] For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, [10] and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” [11] And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

2) Sometimes we are simply wrong about what God is going to say to us. Maybe God will choose another way to minister to us besides conviction. Maybe He will use comfort, love, mercy, or just a simple touch of His presence. Our job is to be receptive during prayer, not predictive.
Read the following quote from Philip Yancey during an interview about his book, The Jesus I Never Knew:

"I remember a long night sitting in uncomfortable Naugahyde chairs in O'Hare Airport, waiting impatiently for a flight that was delayed for five hours. Author Karen Mains happened to be traveling to the same conference. The long delay and the late hour combined to create a melancholy mood. I was writing the book, Disappointment With God at the time, and I felt burdened by other people's pains and sorrows, doubts and unanswered prayers.
Karen listened to me in silence for a very long time, and then out of nowhere she asked a question that has always stayed with me. "Philip, do you ever just let God love you?" she said. "It's pretty important, I think."
I realized with a start that she had brought to light a gaping hole in my spiritual life. For all my absorption in the Christian faith, I had missed the most important message of all. The story of Jesus is the story of a celebration, a story of love. It involves pain and disappointment, yes, for God as well as for us. But Jesus embodies the promise of a God who will go to any length to get his family back.