In an earlier article we examined prayer by using the pneumonic ACTS. ACTS is intended to help us remember the basic flow of prayer. A is for adoration or praise. C is for confession. T is for thanksgiving or gratitude. S is for supplication or intercession. This article will focus on prayer in the Old Testament offering us examples of each type of prayer. I hope that by so doing we will see that prayer has been an essential aspect of the life of the people of God from the very beginning.
We begin with Adoration or praise. One of the oldest prayers in the First Testament is actually in the form of a song. In Exodus 15:1-2, 11, following the Israelites successful crossing of the Red Sea, Marion, the sister of Moses offers a sung prayer of adoration. Here are a couple of sections of that prayer. "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him." "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?" Some of the most beautiful prayers of praise can be found in the Psalms. Psalm 146 begins this way, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long." (vs. 1-2).
Confession is the next step in the pattern of prayer. Perhaps the best known confession is that of King David in Psalm 51. Scholars believe he offered this prayer after his affair with Bathsheba. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight…" (vs. 1-4a) The importance of confession is examined in Psalm 32:3-5. "While I kept silence (about my sin), my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up
as by the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the guilt of my sin."
We move next to prayers of thanksgiving. One of the great prayers of thanksgiving is offered by King David when he had the Ark of the Covenant brought into Jerusalem (I Chronicles 16:8-13). "O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually. Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, offspring of his servant Israel, children of Jacob, his chosen ones." In the Book of Daniel we find Daniel giving thanks for the ability to interpret dreams (Daniel 2:22-24). "To you, O God of my ancestors, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and power, and have now revealed to me what we asked of you, for you have revealed to us what the king ordered."
The final piece of the prayer pattern is that of supplication or intercession. A first example of this type of prayer is found in I Samuel when Hannah prays for a child (I Samuel 1:11). "O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite
until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head." We also witness Moses interceding for God's people following the golden calf incident. (Exodus 32:11-12) "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? …Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people."
My hope is that this very cursory look at prayer in the Old Testament will be a reminder that God's people have always sought to be connected through prayer to the God who called, freed, saved and corrected them.
No comments:
Post a Comment