Today, May 5, 2011, has been set aside as the National Day of Prayer.  Many Christians across the United States of America will set aside time as individuals or gather corporately to devote time to prayer.  How will they pray?  What will they pray for?  This past Sunday at the church I attend we continued our preaching series in Isaiah by opening up to 63:15-64:12.  The title of the sermon was “A Lesson on Crying out to the Lord.”

Consider this statement: what we pray for is more than likely what we live for.  This compels us to examine what we pray for and to consider whether or not it is a true indication of what we live for.  Such an exercise can be a little convicting for most of us.  We have a tendency to pray small prayers, which means prayers focused on our little “corner of the world.”  We have a tendency to pray with a focus on the here and now of our lives, God getting us out of our jams or restoring our health, God making our lives better, God helping our families, friends, or church, God supplying our needs or the needs of others, etc.  These are all good and important matters for us to bring to the Lord in prayer.  However, could our prayers be enlarged?

In our passage in Isaiah we were challenged to pray big prayers, which means prayers focused on the greater work that God is doing in this world.  Isaiah and the people of God are up against some major issues as a nation.  Isaiah longs for God to do something on behalf of his people, but he also laments the sinful state of the people.  Three times Isaiah laments the sinfulness of the people.  He laments their hardened hearts (63:17-19), their wandering hearts (64:5b-7), and the impact of sin in the messiness of their lives (64:10-11).  How can God move when the nation continues to rebel?  Even so, three times Isaiah expresses longing for God to move toward his people and help them. In 63:15, he cries out, “Look down from heaven and see!”  In 64:1, he again cries out, “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down!”  And, finally in 64:9, he cries out, “Behold, please look!”  But, again, how can God move when the nation continues to rebel? And why would Isaiah even pray such a prayer?  He knows that sin brings a separation from God (59:1-20).

Throughout his prayer, Isaiah appeals to God as “Father” (63:16; 64:8), “Redeemer” (63;16), and “Potter” (64:8).  He knows who God is.  God acts on behalf of his children in spite of their sinfulness.  He is gracious.  Isaiah knows that God is going to take these sinful, rebellious people and make them beautiful (60-62).  God has promised it.  So Isaiah prays a big prayer for God to act and do the unthinkable.  He prays that God will in fact move toward a sinful people and act on their behalf. After all the expression of his longing and lamentation, he cries out one last time, “Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?  Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?”  Isaiah prays big prayers.

Let’s pray big prayers for the church in America.  The church is the bride of Christ.  We are being transformed for the day of our consummation with Christ.  Let’s pray that we will see evidence of that transformation in believers.  “Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?”  Let’s pray for the Lord to act powerfully to make the bride blameless and spotless in the way we live.  I have rewritten Isaiah’s last lament in Isaiah 64:10-12 for the contemporary church, hoping that it might be helpful for us in enlarging our prayers.  Write your own prayer to help you pray big prayers for God to make his presence known in powerful ways in the bride of Christ.

A Contemporary Prayer for the American Church based on Isa 64:10-12

“Lord, Your corporate and personal revivals have been diminished by lethargy and consumed by worldliness and greed.

Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

Our hopes for the future and resultant passions to spread the gospel have been replaced with contentment and a preoccupation with the present pursuit of happiness.

Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

Christian families have pushed you out of the home. You have been reduced to an icon on the shelf, a sticker on the bumper of a car, a prayer before meals.

Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

Christian marriages, which once stood as beacons of the transforming work of Christ, now rival marriages, not founded on Christ, in divorce.

Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

A generation of young people, who have been “schooled” in the truths of your word, have turned away from the faith of their parents.

Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

The truths of your word, once standing as the pillar of our faith, has been relegated as optional, subject to individual interpretation, and are no longer a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

Our God-fearing, Christ-exalting churches, where your praises once resounded with worshipful passion, have been silenced by sophisticated reasoning, humanism, and vanity.

Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

And all your precious promises have been written off as wishful thinking, having become empty chants of religious ritual meaninglessly rehearsed and devoid of meaning.

Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?