Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”. 

Today we finish our survey of Old Testament prayers by remembering some of the stories we have looked at in the last six months. Perhaps at some future date, when we are older and wiser, we will look again at these stories with new eyes and new hearts. 

Meanwhile, in the first story we looked at Abraham’s wife got into, and then out of, King Abimelech’s harem, and Abraham prayed for the king. 

Later, when God was thinking about destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham negotiated God’s nuclear threshold down to 10 righteous people. But it wasn’t enough. God destroyed the cities.

When God was thinking about destroying the Israelites in the desert, after they worshipped a golden calf, Moses prayed that God would not destroy them. God had mercy on them.

When God was thinking about destroying Ninevah, Jonah didn’t negotiate for the city or pray for mercy — he ran away because he wanted God to use the nuclear option. But after Jonah took a somewhat fishy route to Ninevah and preached repentance, God had mercy on the city. Jonah responded with prayers of annoyance and disappointment. 

Abraham’s servant prayed that God would help him find the right wife for Isaac. God answered his prayer by sending Rebekah to draw water for the servant and the camels. 

When Jacob was afraid that Esau, whom he had cheated, was going to kill him, he wrestled all night with an angel. God gave Jacob a bad hip and a new name. 

When God was sending plagues on Egypt, Pharaoh asked Moses several times to pray that God would remove the plagues. The individual plagues went, but the pattern continued until the Israelite slaves began their trek to freedom. 

Moses got so annoyed leading the people through the desert that he prayed to God, “If this is how you treat me, do me a favor and kill me right now.” Jonah prayed a similar prayer, “I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” 

When Samson was a prisoner of the Philistines, he prayed for revenge, and God helped him collapse the Philistine temple, killing many Philistines and himself. 

Solomon prayed to dedicate God’s temple in Jerusalem. 

Elijah prayed to stop and start the rain. 

Job prayed chapters of strident demands that God explain the injustice of life. But his prayer moved to a place of quiet acceptance that God was God and did not answer to Job. 

Isaiah told the people that because of their sin, God was not listening to their prayers . 

Jeremiah prayed out his hurt and sadness that God was planning the destruction of Israel. 

Habakkuk prayed out his shock and disbelief that God would use unjust Babylon to punish unjust Israel. He also prayed his trust in God for the coming destruction. 

Daniel prayed out his pain and confusion that the end of the Babylonian exile would not be the end of trouble for God’s people. His prophetic dreams showed evil times and persecutions going far into the future. 

These Old Testament stories, and many others,  illustrate the depth and breadth and difficulty of prayer. 

Let’s pray. 

Our Father, we began this journey of prayer hoping for simple answers and straightforward solutions. We wanted our prayers to call down your power to solve our problems. But we have discovered that prayer doesn’t give us unrestricted access to your power. It only gives us access to you. Perhaps that is enough for us.

Amen. 

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”. 

Today we look at Habakkuk, one of the minor prophets in the  Old Testament. He starts his prophecy with a chapter-long complaint that God is doing absolutely nothing about the injustice and violence in Judah. He says,
  How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
  I cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?   (Hab. 1:1)
  Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and conflict abound.
  Therefore the law is paralysed,
    and justice is perverted. (Hab. 1:3-4)

Great prayer, Habakkuk. Sounds like our world today. 

God was listening, and he answered Habakkuk. He said,
  Look. . . and be utterly amazed (Hab. 1:5)
  For I am going to do something in your days
      that you would not believe,
      even if you were told. 

That’s great, God!  Do something amazing and unbelievable. We’re ready. 

So what was God’s amazing plan? He said he was raising up the Babylonians as a ruthless, godless, treacherous, violent, and self-serving nation. Their army would destroy and conquer nations. They would trample the injustice in Judah that Habakkuk complained  about. 

Habakkuk didn’t think this was an amazing solution — the Babylonian army replacing the unjust civilization in Judah with their own violence and injustice? What problem does that solve? This gave Habakkukk something new to complain about, so he said, 

    You have appointed them to execute judgment?  (Hab. 1:12)
    Why do you let the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? (Hab. 1:13). 

God replied that Babylon would plunder many nations, but they too would be punished for injustice. Those they plundered would rise up and plunder them.

Did Habakkuk find this comforting? A merciless empire will violently destroy unjust Judah and then God will send someone to violently destroy the merciless empire. Is this a biblical interpretation of world history? Is there no end to the cycle of violence and retribution?

Overwhelmed, Habakkuk turns from complaint to prayer. He says,
  Lord, I have heard of your fame;
    I stand in awe of your deeds . . .
  Repeat them in our day,
      in our time make them known;
      in wrath remember mercy. (Hab 3:2)

Then he recounts some of God’s great deeds, like the plagues on Egypt and parting the Red Sea. Yes, God had acted powerfully in the face of angry nations, but he did not promise an Exodus-type deliverance in Habakkuk’s day. Facing a world war with no exit in sight, Habakkuk prayed a prayer of resignation and hope. Let’s pray with him, bringing to his ancient prayer our 21st century experience of injustice, war, and climate change. 

O God,
  I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
      to come on the nation invading us.
  Though the fig-tree does not bud
      and the grape vine bears no fruit,
  though the olive crop fails
        and the fields produce no food,
  though there are no sheep in the sheepfold
        and no cattle in the stalls,
    yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
        I will be joyful in God my Saviour.
    The sovereign Lord is my strength,
        he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
        he enables me to tread on the heights. (Hab. 3:16-19) 

Yes, Lord, be our sovereign, our king, our strength. Rule the warring nations. Cool the burning earth. Bring justice to the unjust world. Make our feet like the feet of deer, enable us to walk on the high places. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”. 

Today, a quick look at Jonah.  

Here’s the story: God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. His assignment was to warn the citizens that if they didn’t repent, God would destroy the city in 40 days. That’s like God sending you or me to the capital city of today’s evil empires — Washington D.C. or Beijing — to threaten destruction and preach repentance. Jonah wasn’t impressed. He liked the idea of God destroying Ninevah. So instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah took a Mediterranean cruise in the opposite direction, to a city where he could wait comfortably for news that God had carried out his 9/11 on  Nineveh.

But God wasn’t so easily deterred. Jonah’s cruise encountered a fierce storm, and Jonah told the sailors he caused this by disobeying God. “Throw me overboard!” he told the crew. They did. The storm stopped, the ship was saved, and God provided Jonah a prayer room in the middle of the ocean — in the belly of a whale. Jonah took the hint and did some serious praying. Soon the whale got indigestion and vomited him up on the land. God said to Jonah, “Did I mention Nineveh?” and Jonah replied, “OK, maybe I’ll go.”  So he preached to Nineveh until the king and the people of that evil empire sought God and changed their ways. God decided not to destroy the city after all. 

Jonah found this outcome intensely annoying. He pouted and went to the desert and said, “God, this is exactly what I warned you about. I was only trying to protect you from yourself. You bill yourself as loving and compassionate, but you had already given Nineveh all the love and compassion they needed. It was time to destroy them. But I preach a bit, and they repent a bit and you go all soft and decide not to punish them? How is that helpful? You were well on the way to implementing regime change in Assyria, but now we’re back at the unhappy status quo.”

God responded by providing another prayer room for Jonah. A leafy plant grew up over Jonah’s shelter in the desert, and he was comforted by the shade. But the next day, the plant died and Jonah was angry. God said to him, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah replied, “Yes, it is. I’m so angry, I wish I were dead!” 

God said to him, “You have compassion on the plant that gave you shade? I have compassion on all the people I have made, even the ones in the evil empire.” 

Some lessons from Jonah:

1.    First, sometimes God is not a fan of violent regime change to solve the problem of evil. I wish someone would preach that message in Washington and Beijing.

2.    Second, God is a fan of all the people he has made. He prefers mercy to punishment, but he thinks the merciful approach works best when people seek him and turn away from evil. 

3.    Third, a Mediterranean cruise might not be the answer to your current set of spiritual problems. You might just bring yourself and your troubles along on the cruise, and then where would you be?

4.    And finally, God kept providing prayer rooms for Jonah, even when he was disobedient and angry. Why don’t you tell God you need a prayer room, or maybe use the one you have? 

Let’s pray.

Our father, you love all the people you created. Send your prophets to Ottawa and Washington and Beijing and Mogadishu and Moscow. May the evil empires find their way to repentance and new life, instead of violence and perversion and destruction.

Amen. 

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.