A verse I’ve been thinking on a bit this holidays is Malachi 3:16
Years ago I made a new friend when she shifted to the hills, came to our church and asked our then minister for someone to meet and pray with… he put her in touch with me and we became deep, instant and now longtime friends as we met together to pray every fortnight or so for several years. Our third was a baby when we met, and she came and prayed and chatted and folded washing with me through the births of the next 3 kids.
We often felt kinda guilty about the fact that we chatted for 2 hours and prayed for 10 mins but it was the Malachi verse that enabled us to set that guilt aside. That verse is a huge chunk of my own thoughts on prayer and what it really is… though I have not clearly thought on that verse now for probably a decade.
Here is is:
Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.
That verse shows me God is near and hearing us all the time… my purpose in meeting with that friend was to “lean in” to God together… it wasn’t to just catch up, it was to honour Him in our lives and I so know He was present and listening to every conversation, very much like “when two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them”. And also linked to how He hears the innermost groanings of our hearts.
So many times when something happens I think to myself “Oh I prayed about that” but then I think… I cant actually remember a time when I enunciated that through with actual words to God, but I know it was a heart cry, a heart yearning – which He saw and heard and answered regardless of whether I gave it words. And that IS prayer.
Buuuuuuut – WHO we are talking to changes the expression and flow of what we say – so its not an excuse for not spending concentrated time specifically talking to God, just and expansion of our ideas on prayer…
We don’t always hear back from Him what we think we need or want… or in the time frame we feel we need or want… but I DO know that He IS hearing me… Though now we see through a glass darkly.