Unearthing Pearls of Prayer

God instructs us in prayer in various ways and at various times throughout His Word. We sit in with Jesus' disciples as He responds to the request, "Lord, teach us to pray." The mechanism and mechanics of prayer are unveiled to us in teaching points on the subject giving us a practical theology of prayer. Prayer is illustrated for us in places like Ezra 9, Nehemiah 9 and Daniel 9. The psalms comprise a prayerbook leading us in multifaceted prayer. Paul's prayers in Ephesians, Phillipians and Colossians expand our framework for prayer beyond our parochial concerns. We are commanded to pray, enjoined to pray and constrained to pray.

But our God instructs us in prayer even beyond the more conspicuous teachings or examples of prayer. As we navigate the terrain of redemptive history in our regular reading of God's Word, we would do well to keep our eyes open for nuggets of prayer buried within the text that are easy to gloss over in our haste.

Genesis 20 serves as a good example. Abraham is traveling in Gerar. He represents Sarah as his sister rather than his wife. Abimelech, king of Gerar, pursues Sarah as an unattached woman. God speaks to Abimelech in a dream and alerts him to dire consequences because Sarah is Abraham's wife. As we read this account, we shake our heads in disgust at Abraham's lack of trust and in befuddlement wondering what God is communicating in the event. Yet buried in the account is a nugget on prayer.

God lays out His solution to Abimelech's predicament: "Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live." (Gen. 20:7) God showcases the role of Abraham as intercessor and prayer as God's means for the promised ends. Since God had communicated to Abimelech directly, couldn't He have just told him to return Sarah to Abraham and let bygones be bygones? Instead, God shows us that He deals in prayer. In so doing, He gives prayer a place and value, lending it a certain weight as we hold the weapon of prayer in our hands. Ten verses later we see how it plays out: "Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children."

Notice how stopping to pick up this nugget and study it enriches our notion of prayer, giving us appreciation for the extraordinary value of prayer in the workings of God. It emboldens us and raises our expectations in our role as appointed intercessors. The Bible is filled with such nuggets, easily missed unless we're looking for them.