April 27, 2003: Praying Like A Child

I think I can speak for most teachers when I say that it is a pleasure to see a child raise his hand. It means he has something to say, that he is involved enough in what is going on to want to contribute. I've had the opportunity to teach children many times, and have decided that on any day I'd rather teach mischievous kids with lots of questions than well-behaved ones who stare at you in dull silence.

Sometimes kids say things that make no sense to me. When that happens, I try to keep in mind that whatever they said, it made sense to them. When I was a child, I probably said lots of strange things that sprang from my childlike grasp of reality. But even when I could not get my point across to an adult whose attention I craved, I could still tell whether or not he was taking me seriously. Every a child knows when he is being taken seriously - or silently laughed at by an adult who thinks he is stupid.

God takes us seriously, which is stunning when you consider that the distance between his understanding and ours is so much greater than that which exists between the wisest adult and the simplest child. We know he takes us seriously because he has told us to pray. Prayer is how we come and talk to him.

We are apt to botch prayer. James warns, "You ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures" (James 4:3). Even a good man like Job confessed, "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me" (Job 42:3).

But botching prayer is no excuse for avoiding it. God requires us to contribute our bit to the heavenly conversation that brings him glory and joy. I like to think that the pleasure I feel upon seeing a young student raise his hand is a distant echo of the divine pleasure God experiences when we approach him in prayer. In your spirit, with a child's humility, raise your hand and God will call on you and you can talk to him. He likes that. He likes it so much he has commanded it.