He blinked his bleary eyes open trying to determine if the sound that woke him was real or only a dream. He pulled the blanket up around his shoulders and crept toward the entryway. Peering out into the dim light of dawn, his worst fears materialized—they were surrounded. Tiptoeing back, he shook his companion awake, his panicked whisper describing the horses, chariots, soldiers, and swords he saw outlined against the horizon. His fears were met with words of comfort and a prayer as his mentor prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, that he may see.” Almost like magic, the servant could see the provision of God and the “hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:17, NIV)
The story of Elisha and his servant reminds us that prayer is the prerequisite to witnessing God’s activity in our world. When we pray, we invite the Holy Spirit to join with us in our experience, reframing our perspective and bringing the resources of God to bear on our circumstance. I wish that God always worked as he did in the story of Elisha and his servant. I wish that a quick prayer of, “Lord, open my eyes that I may see,” would peal the scales from my humanity-dimmed perception and enable me to see the provision of God for my life. Sometimes God works in this way, but not always. God desires to be more than our last resort in desperate circumstances.
More often, God invites us into a meaningful relationship where consistent and transparent prayer shapes us more and more toward the likeness of Christ. The practice of prayer sharpens our perception, and we begin to see what God is doing in our lives and in the world around us.
It all sounds so simple, but simple doesn’t always mean easy. Anyone who tries to pray consistently quickly discovers that praying requires disciplined persistence. As we consider the challenges of praying, imagine the work of the farmer. The design of our creator God ensured that the earth would produce life, but the fall of humanity changed the manner of the soil’s production. Genesis 3:17-18 says, “…through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life…by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food…” (NIV) In other words, if we hope to eat the fruit of the soil, we will need to cultivate it.
Cultivate is a good metaphor for developing eyes to see God’s activity in the world around us. The farmer breaks up the soil, making it fit to receive the seed. The farmer carefully sows and waits. The farmer waters and weeds, then nurtures the seedlings until finally a harvest is produced. It’s hard work. It takes time. It requires faith and discipline.
Perhaps this is our model for prayer if we want to see what God is doing in our world. The soil of our hearts can become hard packed by the pace and brutality of our culture. Prayer can break up the soil and prepare it for the seeds God wants to sow. Jesus reminds us to be good soil in Matthew 13, receptive and not filled with weeds or stones. Prayer helps us avoid the “weeds” that can subtly creep into our lives and choke out the seedlings of God’s new work. Prayer develops our faith and teaches us the patience required to remain on God’s timetable and not our own.
I’m not a farmer but I have planted a garden or two across the years. Each time I do I get so excited when, after weeks of no visible change, the tender shoots of new life push their way up through the stubborn soil. When we learn to pray consistently and sincerely, it isn’t very long until we begin to see what we might have missed without prayer—the new life that God brings about in us and all around us.
Prayer cultivates our vision to see what God is doing in the world around us. If you struggle to get started, if you can’t imagine what you would say, why not begin with the prayer Jesus taught us to pray? It can be found in Matthew 6:9-13. As you approach this prayer, don’t imagine it as a few verses to be recited, but rather as a trellis upon which the new life that God will bring can attach itself and grow. And don’t forget, the same Spirit that opens your eyes empowers your resolve to pray. Why not pause a moment right now and ask the Holy Spirit to inspire you to pray like a farmer.
