When Job expresses all of his anger, pain, and frustration with God in the midst of his trouble, his friends give some of the craziest advice (if you can call it 'advice'). One of those things Eliphaz says to Job strikes me today.
"What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that we do not?"
If you pray honestly and relationally, others will wonder this very thing about you. I can remember September 11, as most people do. That night, on the campus where I went to school, there were some groups gathering to pray. I remember being in a circle of people and I prayed at one point. I don't recall the prayer specifically, but as we dispersed, some people came up to me to say, "I love the way you pray. You pray differently."
I didn't understand why.
I also have had people in my life say things like, "You seem to relate to God so differently."
I don't do anything magical or especially revolutionary when I pray. In fact, most days I struggle o pray at all. But when I do pray, I do so with honesty. I pray as I can and not as I can't. I pray and speak as if God listens to me, because I have come to trust that he does. My prayers are not memorized cliches. There are times when they are repetitive, but they are not cliche prayers and phrases I have heard throughout my life. I don't talk to my friends in cliches. What is interesting is when I do pray as I do or relate to God in this fashion, so many people around me begin to wonder:
"What do you know know that we do not know?
What do you understand that we do not?"
I don't! I have not discovered anything that has been hidden. I have only become convinced God hears the honest prayers of relational sons and daughters who are convinced that this is the only way.
Your prayer makes me wonder!
