by The number of people searching for the word ‘prayer’ on Google ‘skyrocketed’ last month, doubling with every 80,000 new registered cases of coronavirus, according to a University of Copenhagen study. A Pew poll found that 55 per cent of Americans have prayed for an end to the pandemic. And no, it’s not only the Bible Belt: researchers reported that 15 per cent of those who ‘seldom or never pray’ and 24 per cent of those who do not belong to any religion have prayed about the virus.
The Spectator, 11th April 2020, ‘Will coronavirus hasten the demise of religion – or herald its revival?’
As I was driving home from work recently through the mainly deserted town, I saw a man in the process of putting up a banner at the front of an closed and locked evangelical church. The banner was still furled, but I knew exactly what it said: “Try Praying”. That put a smile on my face. Churches, chapels, gospel halls and meeting rooms might be shut up, but the resource of prayer is available to every one of the locked-down and self-isolating.
The studies mentioned above demonstrate the fundamental need, built into the very fabric of mankind, to pray. For many at this time it’ll be an act of desperation, a last resort in a situation which appears to be spiralling out of all human control. We can surely see the hand of God in this: thousands, perhaps millions, who would never have thought of addressing Him in prayer may be doing so for the first time, or at least the first time a long time. No doubt this will result in many souls experiencing the peace resulting from knowledge of the Saviour, and trust in Him for today and eternity.
I have to admit that prayer, for me, is often nearer to a last resort, when it should be a frequent resort. I try to do things my own way, make my own decisions, get myself out of difficulties, and when I find all this does is gets me deeper into difficulty, then I pray. I often find that the gracious answer contains a loving rebuke: “If you had listened to Me first…”
At this time a lot of people will be speaking to God, asking Him for answers, deliverance, healing. It’s a great thing to speak to our heavenly Father, putting our petitions to Him, laying our cares down at His feet. However, praying is about listening too – which is a grievous failing of mine.
The Lord Jesus in His pathway here – the beautiful Exemplar of all things lovely in the sight of God – listened. He says, typically through the prophet, “He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed” (Isaiah 50:4). His was a life of constant, perfect communion with the Father, unbroken until the hour of His forsaking on the cross. Prayer was His continual resort. To what extent is that true of me?
Prayer, even as a last resort, is good. Prayer as a first resort is better. Prayer is a continual resort is best.