Praying with Resignation

I am picturing many people praying with their arms folded this week.

If the posture we hold while praying means anything, then praying with palms up conveys openness and receptivity. Kneeling expresses humility. Lying face down, an extreme posture, evinces profound grief or remorse, or even awe. And folded arms? That closed position commonly communicates resistance, indifference, or even opposition.

Everyone seems to think Presbyterians are headed for a showdown at their General Assembly this week. Lobbyists for opposite positions on crucial matters of ethics and theology will try to convince the commissioners. The commissioners will try to listen to the Holy Spirit amid the cacophony of voices.

Still, there is a shared sense of inevitability by those attending and those watching from home, that the Presbyterian Church (USA) may cross a threshold at this Assembly that will permanently divide the denomination. If that is what you believe is going to happen, then how do you pray, regarding the deliberations? I imagine many are praying with arms folded, resigned that it is too late to stop the train wreck.

This is no way to pray. Or is it? Are there biblical examples of people praying with resignation? How did the apostle Paul pray as he headed to Jerusalem, convinced by the Holy Spirit (1) that he should go, and (2) that he would encounter violent opposition? How did Jeremiah pray for Israel, convinced by the Holy Spirit that his nation’s unfaithfulness was about to meet the sternest of discipline by God?

As Paul and Jeremiah  prayed about what was about to happen, I believe they shifted to a higher level of prayer. Far from praying with resignation, they prayed instead for God to be glorified as events unfolded, and for God’s redemptive purpose to be fulfilled.

On rare occasions, God grants to those with the spiritual gift of intercession a clear sense of what to ask for in prayer. The strongest example I know of a believer who was led by God in prayer was Rees Howells. Before engaging in an extensive period of intercession he would spend considerable time listening to God, waiting for direction in how to pray. Once he knew what to ask, Howell began his intercessory prayer.

Are there earnest Presbyterians who have a clear sense from the Holy Spirit of how the Lord will guide the commissioners at this year’s General Assembly? Many evangelical Presbyterians are pretty confident of what God has revealed on the major issues before the denomination. But they don’t know what God will lead the commissioners to do at this Assembly, do they?

Unless God guides our intercessors to pray for a particular result from God, our best antidote to praying with resignation is to ask that God will continue his redemptive work in and through the church and that God will shape his people into the image of our Savior. You can’t offer that prayer with arms folded.