| The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.” |
| —Jeremiah 33:3 AMP |
As a teen, I remember hearing lessons and sermons in which teachers or pastors referred to short prayers of the “God, please help me now!” variety as “popcorn prayers.” They encouraged our spiritual formation by teaching us that God loves and cares for us, and that in His omniscience—His ever-abiding presence—He listens to every prayer we pray. When we get into confusing or difficult circumstances, we should, first of all, go to Him.
I send up “popcorn prayers” all the time. But, I know from my longtime experience that I can’t base my life on those quick requests for help. Instead, I need to seek out the God of heaven and earth in His holiness and power on those daily occasions when I sit down with Him for a “full meal” of His written Word and, in my inner being, listen to discern His explanation for what I am reading.
Please let me illustrate by relating this account from the first chapter of Nehemiah:
Nehemiah, one of the exiles who lived in Persia, had risen in importance within the government to the place where he served King Artaxerxes as his cupbearer. The king trusted Nehemiah with his very life. In turn, Nehemiah knew that the king expected him to come in good spirits and a friendly heart in order to deliver poison-free refreshment.
One day the king questioned Nehemiah because he looked sad. Now, if we go back in time a bit, we learn that Nehemiah had heard from a fellow Jew, who had traveled to Jerusalem, that the walls of the city had been ruined and torn down.
As a result of hearing this bad news, God gave Nehemiah such a burden for this former vital city of the Jewish nation—a city that Nehemiah had never seen, but a city that was the seat of his ancestry—that Nehemiah wept over this news. Then, Nehemiah fasted and prayed for four months about a solution.
We get a glimpse of the kind of prayer that Nehemiah prayed from reading one of those prayers in this passage of Scripture. Nehemiah worshiped God as the covenant God, reminding Him of the sins of His people, and also reminding Him of the promises given to Moses. By the time Nehemiah finished this prayer, he felt he had heard God calling him to go and serve in Jerusalem.
These events had taken place immediately before this encounter over the wine with Artaxerxes—the very day when Nehemiah went to the king with a sad face, causing the king to ask Nehemiah about his countenance. Perhaps the king thought Nehemiah had tasted something that wouldn’t have been healthy for the king! But no, the conversations went like this, as recorded in Nehemiah 1:2-5. The king said to Nehemiah:“This must be sadness of heart!”
Nehemiah explains: I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever!” Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city of Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.
As you read this account, did you see it? Nehemiah prayed a “popcorn prayer”! But, we must remember that this prayer came after four months of long, thoughtful, submissive, listening prayer. Of course, God heard and answered Nehemiah’s prayer.
I suggest that “popcorn prayers” shouldn’t make up the totality of our prayer life. We need to have them handy in the moment we come up against a problem. But, only after we have built a relationship and a life of long, extended prayers with our Heavenly Father.
God longs for us to come in quietness to commune with Him. Yes, He listens to all our prayers. But, God also waits for us to come to the place where we have time to listen to Him. At such a time He will tell us great and mighty things which we do not know. We may need them from time to time. But, we can’t live on “popcorn prayers.”
