Prayer Can Help
One of the ways that prayer helps is by shifting our perspective.
If you're going through a tough time in life, here's something that can always help you: praying to God. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6 ESV). Instead of worrying about something, we're encouraged to pray to God about the matter. Unfortunately, prayer is sometimes the last thing on our minds when trouble hits. Instead of praying, we might try to solve the problem with our own power and understanding. And by doing so, we might miss out on the peace that God brings through prayer (see Phil. 4:7).
But how does prayer help us in our time of need? One of the ways that prayer helps is by shifting our perspective. When we're going through a tough time in life, our problems may seem huge and insurmountable. We forget that God is bigger than our problems. But in truth, nothing is too tough for our Lord. Prayer helps us reframe our problems in light of the power and might of God. Our problems start to shrink in comparison to a big and mighty God. Prayer helps us to have a proper perspective of our problems. And that brings us a sense of peace in the end.
There's a story in the first book of Samuel of a woman named Hannah who could not bear children. She would constantly be harassed about this fact by her husband's other wife who did have children. One day, Hannah brought her distress up to the Lord in deep and emotional prayer. After praying, the Bible makes this remark about Hannah's condition: "Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad" (1 Sam. 1:18 ESV). Before praying, Hannah was incredibly sad about her situation in life. But after praying to God, her disposition changed—she was no longer sad. Technically, the circumstances hadn't changed yet. Hannah was still childless. But her perspective changed after she brought up her concern to the Lord through prayer. She was leaving her concerns in God's hands. In the end, it brought her a sense of peace to pray to the true and living God and lay her burdens upon Him.
Prayer helps us by changing our perspective. We start to focus more on God and what He can do rather than focusing on the issue itself. In turn, we become confident in God's presence with us through the problem and we trust in His wisdom and power to help us. If we don't pray, we miss out on this shift in perspective. We also miss out on the peace that only comes from leaving our concerns in God's hands. As the old hymn goes,
"O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!"
(What a Friend We Have in Jesus by Joseph M. Scriven)
When we're in deep trouble and distress, let us not forget about Christ and the peace that only He can bring. Let us learn to bring our concerns to God. He is more than capable of handling every problem and situation in life.
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
