What If I Can’t Find the Words? - February 25

Read Deuteronomy 6:5-9

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Reflect

Do you have certain prayers that you regularly recite or do you always find your own words when you pray?

Spiritual disciplines are like physical disciplines. When you set out to develop a workout routine, it’s not easy at first. Healthy habits aren’t developed overnight. You have to keep showing up and practicing before it becomes a life giving rhythm. Learning to pray can be a lot like that. Sometimes, you have to practice before it becomes natural.

Using a liturgy is something that has many people develop a prayer life. That means using specific pre-written prayers for different circumstances. For example, when you need to confess sin, Psalm 51 is a great place to turn where you can pray David’s words rather than my own: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions…Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within in me” (v. 1,10).

In today’s passage, God commanded the Israelites to love Him with all of their heart, soul, and strength. He told them that His Words should always be in their hearts and a part of their everyday lives. As they go about their mundane tasks, His Word should be in their ears and before their eyes. Praying His Word is a liturgy, a pattern of worship. It is a spiritual habit that has the power to completely transform your heart.

Hymns and worship songs can also function as liturgies. I have struggled with panic attacks in the past and in those scary moments, I am often unable to form coherent prayers. I have discovered that the hymn “Abide With Me” becomes my heartfelt prayer when I am otherwise unable to pray: “...when other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me.”

Many people are concerned that liturgies and recitations make it too easy to just go through the motions. They are rightly concerned about people going on prayer autopilot. After all, in Matthew 6:7-8, Jesus warned: “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” The NASB translated this verse as “do not use meaningless repetition.”

The issue Jesus was getting at was sincerity. Is your heart in it? The issue isn’t about heartfelt recitations. The issue is if we repeat the words without meaning them or if we treat them like magical incantations. You see, I can pray the Lord’s prayer on rote without thinking about what I am saying or I can earnestly and fervently commune with God through that prayer. We can merely go through the motions with any spiritual discipline. I can sing a familiar worship song or hymn without thinking about what I am saying and who I’m singing to. The moment I do that, it ceases to be sincere worship. No matter what the spiritual discipline, we have to be on guard against the habits becoming thoughtless routines.

If you are struggling to form your own words to pray, find words that match what you want to say to God and pray those. Pray Scripture, pray hymns, pray a table blessing, use a book of prayers or liturgies to help you. Whatever you choose to pray, make sure it is biblically faithful and that it’s an honest representation of what you really want to say to God. Make sure it truly expresses that you love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and that it keep His truth and His Word always before your eyes and in your ears. h, for He who promised is faithful.

Respond

Lord, sometimes I can’t find the words to pray on my own. Thank You for the psalms and other examples of prayer in Scripture that express what I also want to say to You. “With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD! I will keep your statutes. I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies. I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words” (Psalm 119:145-147).

Reveal

Do you have a passage of Scripture, a prayerful hymn, or another type of liturgy that often leads you in communication with the Lord? Share that prayer with a friend or family member today and let them know how it has blessed you.