Prayer

I am sure most of you have heard about the prayer that was said at a recent NASCAR race that has caused quite a controversy.  If not go search for NASCAR prayer and listen.  It was hilarious, it was unbridled, and it was filled with more passion than some who pray in earnest.

What does the Bible say about prayer?

Well let’s look first at Job.  You know the story of Job, the story of an extremely pious man named Job, who was very prosperous.  God asks Satan his opinion on Job.  Satan answers that Job is pious only because God put a "wall around" him and "blessed" his favorite servant with prosperity.  But if God touches "his possessions", then Job would curse him.  God gives Satan permission to test Job's righteousness.

Anyway, in Job 35: 9-15 “When times get bad, people cry out for help.  They cry for relief from being kicked around, But never give God a thought when things go well, when God puts spontaneous songs in their hearts, When God sets out the entire creation as a science classroom, using birds and beasts to teach wisdom.  People are arrogantly indifferent to God— until, of course, they're in trouble, and then God is indifferent to them.  There's nothing behind such prayers except panic; the Almighty pays them no mind.  So why would he notice you just because you say you're tired of waiting to be heard, Or waiting for him to get good and angry and do something about the world's problems?

Job was saying, “Why should people only pray when they are in trouble?”  So why not pray for praises? 

Isaiah 12: 5-6 "Sing praise-songs to God.  He's done it all!  Let the whole earth know what he's done!  Raise the roof!  Sing your hearts out, O Zion!  The Greatest lives among you: The Holy of Israel."

So what’s wrong with a little humor to help teach about the word of God?  You don’t think Jesus did?  How about God having a sense of humor?

Psalm 59:8-10 But you, God, break out laughing; you treat the godless nations like jokes.  Strong God, I'm watching you do it, I can always count on you.  God in dependable love shows up on time, shows me my enemies in ruin.

Is it because we have become so familiar with Jesus' teaching illustrations that they fail to bring a smile?  We have all read about putting a camel through the eye of a needle, straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel, men being whitewashed tombs full of rot, washing the outside of a cup and leaving the crud inside, Pharisees screwing up their faces to look painfully religious.  People who heard them for the first time probably smiled. 

What about when God told Abraham that he and his wife would have a child, even at the age of 99? 

Genesis 17:19 But God said, "That's not what I mean.  Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son.  Name him Isaac (Laughter).  I'll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.

So even God named one of his children Laughter!

So what is the matter with a little humor in prayer, especially when trying to get people to come to the Lord and get their attention?  I know this Pastor got a lot of people’s attention.

Joel 1:13-14 [ Nothing's Going On in the Place of Worship ] And also you priests, put on your robes and join the outcry.  You who lead people in worship, lead them in lament.  Spend the night dressed in gunnysacks, you servants of my God.  Nothing's going on in the place of worship, no offerings, no prayers—nothing.  Declare a holy fast, call a special meeting, get the leaders together, Round up everyone in the country.  Get them into God's Sanctuary for serious prayer to God.

So this Pastor is only trying to get people’s attention so they will listen to the word of God.  Yes he may have been a little over the top and there is scripture on that as well.

Matthew 6:2-4 "When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself.  You've seen them in action, I'm sure—'playactors' I call them— treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds.  They get applause, true, but that's all they get.  When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks.  Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively.  That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.

But give this guy a break, after all how many of you would have stood before 18,000 people, probably most don’t go to church, and say a prayer?  How many of you even said a prayer of thanks for your food at the supper table?

Come on – lighten up, if this Pastor has sparked even one person’s interest in going to church, hearing the calling of God, and has given his life over to Christ, then he has done his job!  Besides whose job is it to tell me how to pray to my God?  I know my God has a sense of humor and will listen to all sorts of prayer.  If you think this Pastor’s prayer was inappropriate, why don’t you ask God yourself!

Rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub, YEAH GOD!