Prayer in the Night
How do we pray in the night? How do we pray when our prevailing emotions are suffering, doubt, and anxiety? How do we pray when we have more questions than answers?
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How do we pray in the night? How do we pray when our prevailing emotions are suffering, doubt, and anxiety? How do we pray when we have more questions than answers?
For many the divinity of Jesus is easy to grasp, but Christian orthodoxy declares that Jesus is also human; and the humanity of Jesus is most on display the night he would be betrayed. In a Garden called Gethsamene, Jesus weeps, pleads, and experiences the whole range of human anxiety. It is in this short story that we begin to see the depths of God’s love for us that he would join us in our suffering.
For every generation, for every time, there are “what is this world coming to moments.” Since 2000, in just 24 short years, we have seen– 9/11, the housing crash of 2008, the war in Afghanistan, the Syrian crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ukraine-Russia conflict. in the crushing wave of the 24-hour news cycle, we are constantly aware of all the tragedy, all the violence, all the death; it feels like the end of the world all the time. But these moments are not new. Every generation has lived through these moments. As we look to the life of Jesus we find a startling practice that can help us navigate these “end of the world” moments– Lament.
There are times in our walk with God that feel more like a desert than an oasis. These seasons are dry, desolate, and lonely and we feel more of God’s absence than his presence. In these moments we need to be reminded we are not alone, God has not abandoned us, and there might be something to learn from the dry season.
When suffering crashes into our lives all humans are prone to ask some of the same questions. Is God just? Does God run the world by His justice? Why is there evil? These are the same questions posed by the Book of Job. A tragic story that invites us to reconsider our search for easy answers even as we wrestle with God.
When suffering crashes into our lives all humans are prone to ask some of the same questions. Is God just? Does God run the world by His justice? Why is there evil? These are the same questions posed by the Book of Job. A tragic story that invites us to reconsider our search for easy answers even as we wrestle with God.