Little jewels
By Georg Lindhout (mission worker)
We stand on the shoulders of giants. Just look back at the history of the church. Great servants of God, undoubtedly small in their own eyes, have left us beautiful treasures. We can gratefully make use of them. For me, two of these treasures are the booklet ‘Praying Always’ and the Sotho hymn ‘O Modimo o tletseng mosa.’
Praying Always
The booklet ‘Praying Always,’ is known in the Netherlands as ‘Gebedsgestalten’, written by the late Rev. F. Bakker. In twelve chapters, he offers simple and practical instruction on prayer. Over twenty years ago, I was already touched by the booklet. During discussions here in South Africa, I received many questions about prayer. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to focus on instruction on prayer. In one of the classrooms in Hammanskraal, we have a bookcase -a small library, if you will - filled with valuable books. I came across this beautiful booklet there too.
Questions
And so, together with about forty listeners, we explored the themes about prayer. One lesson per week for three months. Prayer which is secret, persevering, improper, arrogant, humble, bold, true, pleading, effectual, thankful, unfulfilled, and too late. We concluded with the word "amen."
A few examples of questions asked, "Why doesn't God answer my prayers?" "I always try to pray at midnight and 3 a.m. - I set an alarm for it - but it doesn't always work well. What should I do?" "Can you stop praying for someone else if it isn’t working?" "Can someone pray for you in such a way that you end up doing bad things?"
Lord, teach us to pray!
The questions reflect the diversity of our target audience: serious seekers and those struggling with questions about suffering and life's purpose. Sometimes they feel the pressure exerted by the church and their surroundings to adhere to certain prayer rituals. Sometimes they feel they are at the mercy of the powers and forces of others that exert influence on their lives.
I can honestly say that everyone listened very attentively. Many were taking notes. We began the first lesson with the disciples' request, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1). After more than three months of prayer instruction, we ended with the same question. Together, we laid it before the Lord in prayer, “Lord, teach us to pray!”
During one of the first lessons, I asked them, "Do you know a hymn about prayer?" After some thought and research, the following week they came up with the aforementioned Sotho hymn, written by the 19th-century French missionary Adolphe Mabille. The hymn of prayer, with eight meaningful verses, sung to a beautiful, reverent tune, begins like this,
O God of boundless mercy’s stream,
I come to pray, my heart’s deep theme;
But first I must confess with plea,
I know not how to pray to Thee.
Oh, Lord of mine, teach me the way,
To pray to You in truth each day!
Until this day, I’ve set my face,
In prayers so empty, lacking grace;
Words from lips, a hollow show,
No soul’s deep fire, no overflow.
Oh, Lord of mine, teach me the way,
To pray to You in truth each day!
