This
week we will observe as we usually do the National Day of Prayer by attending a
gathering in our community. A message I heard there years ago has continued to resonate
with me and I thought I’d revisit it today hoping to also bring encouragement
to someone else.
The
speaker noted that in our culture we tend to believe that (I think have this
phrase verbatim): “More is powerful; less is worse; big is important; and small
is insignificant.”
And
yes, we do. It’s all about more and big in about every arena.
Our
speaker’s wife had recently worked in Philadelphia, visited Independence Hall and sent him a picture of the room in which the Declaration of Independence was
drafted, the “most important document of freedom” ever conceived. He noticed how
small the room was and quoted Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Earth's crammed with
heaven, and every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off
his shoes…”
I
thought of Ann Voskamp who has written how we should give thanks for the little things
which magnifies our experience of God and His grace.
As an adolescent our speaker questioned a Sunday School
teacher about the meaning of “The fervent prayer of a righteous man avails
much.”
The
teacher said, “It means your prayers matter.”
Right there was his point. One person’s prayers matter. Even when we don’t feel
like they do. Even when we don’t see immediate results, the prayer of one
person when offered from a heart turned to God can work much.
So,
when we pray for the big stuff, like “God please turn a country back to you,”
we can feel our prayers small. But they aren’t. “The prayer of a person living
right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with (James 5:16 The
Message).
As
our speaker said, it’s easy to slip into thinking, ““More is powerful; less is
worse; big is important; and small is insignificant.”
But
one person’s prayers matter.
Let
those prayers be yours.