Praying and grumbling …

Today America observes what is designated as our “National Day of Prayer.”

Over the past year, there has been a whole lot of praying, not just in our country but around the world. In fact, Kate Shellnutt, writing an article for Christianity Today, notes that “As people have been bombarded with headlines about the global pandemic, civil unrest, natural disasters, and religious persecution, Google searches for prayer rose to the highest levels on record …”

That’s a lot of praying!

But there has also been an incredible amount of grumbling during the past year, over many of the same issues people have been praying about … the global pandemic, civil unrest, causes of natural disasters, horrendous religious persecution, and more.

So which do you think God takes most seriously from us … does He believe our prayers as being most genuine, or our grumbling?

Let me clarify the question with an illustration from that wonderful source of stories, “Unknown”:

A man had a habit of grumbling at the food his wife placed before him at family meals. Then he would ask the blessing. One day after his usual combination complaint-prayer, his little girl asked, “Daddy, does God hear us when we pray?”

“Why, of course,” he replied. “He hears us every time we pray.”

She paused on this a moment, then asked, “Does He hear everything we say the rest of the time?”

“Yes, dear, every word,” he replied, encouraged that he had inspired his daughter to be curious about spiritual matters. However, his pride was quickly turned to humility at his daughter’s next question.

“Then, which does God believe?”

This combination of prayer and grumbling is a contradiction to the expressions and attitude the Apostle Paul says we should be pairing together. Instead of prayer and grumbling, Paul calls us to be praying people who are thankful:

“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart,” Colossians 4:2.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done,” Philippians 4:6.

“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus,” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

If we won’t include our grumbling in our prayers, maybe we shouldn’t be muttering them outside our prayers. What does it say about our prayers — or more importantly — what does it say about our hearts if we pray and include some thanksgiving, but otherwise are grumbling people? How can we expect God to believe any expressions of thanksgiving in prayer when we’re grumbling in all our other conversations?

As we’re called to prayer today, let this national observance of prayer bring us back to being praying people who are thankful, not just in our prayers but in our other conversations, in the way we live our lives, and in the reality of our minds and hearts. After all, just how thankful can we really be if we nurture a habit of grumbling?

Scotty