Lord, Teach Me To Contend...
Lord, Teach Me To Contend...
Full confession: I'm not used to 'contending' with God in prayer.
Oh sure, I delight in the beauty, intimacy, logic and mystery of prayer... but when it comes to that kind of gut-level wrestling with God, battling against God, pleading to God for things, my theology and experience is too neat and tidy for that. I mean, if I trust that God is a good Father who will give me what I need, why argue with Him about it? Why get so stirred up and loud about it?
My neat and tidy theology does make at least some minimal accommodation for a limited amount of 'contending' with God. But, I tend to think it is for really desperate situations, like when your house or marriage burns down. Or maybe, as my ego imagines, it's for people with really simple or really bad theology, who think their desperation will twist God's arm. Maybe God puts up with their poor pleading until they get some decent theological training?
But somehow, I know this is all wrong. Somehow, I'm wondering... has my 'good theology' about God's sovereignty kept me from praying the way God wants me to?
Sam Harvey and I were both presenting at a conference recently. Like some kind of cheerleader for all things Sam and 24-7 Prayer, I eagerly went to his session. But, I wasn't ready for my theology of prayer to get wrecked. In the midst of his characteristically passionate and wise delivery, Sam dropped a little nugget that left me reeling... in a good way.
"The Lord's Prayer is a contending prayer."
It was like I could feel the electricity of the Holy Spirit beginning to lovingly re-wire my theological synapses.
The Lord's Prayer is the prayer of all prayers. The model prayer. The thing that Jesus used to answer the 'Teach us to pray' question. And I had never labelled it like this before. But I can't deny it. The Lord's prayer is a prayer that teaches us... teaches me... to contend with God in prayer.
When I pray, I am 'contending' for things that are already true, at least in part. God's name is already 'hallowed' (or 'honoured')! But until 'every knee' bows to Him, I am taught to plead that we continue to wake up as a species to the majesty of his Name. Likewise, God's kingdom is already coming on earth... But as long as injustice persists on earth, I beg him for his rule to extend even further into our domain. With the desperation of people facing a famine or drought, I long for the rain and flourishing that comes when God is honoured and obeyed. For when this happens, the poor are fed, outsiders are welcomed, sinners are forgiven, and heaven comes to earth!
Likewise, 'contending' for 'daily bread' seems tragically fitting for someone facing poverty, who doesn't know when, where or how their next meal will come. But what about those of us far less likely to go without? Perhaps in this prayer I am being taught to plead humbly even for the things I don't feel a pressing need to pray for. Perhaps, like the Israelites in a land of plenty, I need to be warned against saying in my heart, "my power and the might of my hand have gained me this..." (Deuteronomy 8:17). Lord, give me not only daily bread, but daily gratitude.
Later in this grand prayer, I am taught to 'contend' for things I know full well I do not have... or do not have enough of. Like forgiveness toward others. When heaven rules on earth, forgiveness freely flows not only to me, but through me. With the naked humility of a convicted felon begging the judge for mercy, I plead my case and promise to show the same mercy to others.
The Lord's prayer teaches me to contend. Just like all the other stories with their awkward applied theology of going head-to-head with the Lord. Like Abraham bartering with the Almighty (Genesis 18), or Jacob sparring with God (Genesis 32). Indeed, in Luke 11, the Lord followed this prayer with more 'contendy' teaching on prayer, where I am instructed to pray like an incredibly rude friend demanding that a good host get out of bed in the middle of the night to give me bread.
My theology and experience of prayer, it turns out, is far too passive and respectable.
Lord, teach me to contend.