Today, I would like for us to ask the question. When we pray to God, who is this God we pray to?
What image of God do you have in mind when you pray? How do you picture God when you pray?
In his book, “THE PAPA PRAYER,” Larry Crabb says, “Whatever idea of God is in your mind as you talk with Him will influence the way you pray. It’s possible that millions of Christians across the world
who think they’re praying in Jesus’s name are in fact praying in the name of
someone else, to a God that the Bible knows nothing of.”
Then he identifies ten common images of God that are in people’s minds when they pray. See if one (or a blend of several) of these describes the God you pray to:
TEN COMMON IMAGES OF GOD
1. SMILING BUDDY
He’s there for you the way a good friend should be. He is with us but not above us – a God who just likes hanging out. No demands. No rules. Just a good time. If you think of God as a smiling buddy, then prayer will become nothing more than asking favors from a chum.
2. BACKROOM WATCHMAKER
This is the way I most often think of God. At times, I’m a functional deist. It’s like I’ve been wound up to keep ticking by a craftsman who never leaves the shop. He made the clock. Now He has other things to do. When things don’t go as I think they should, I sing, “Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be.” Why bother with prayer? The clock keeps ticking. This picture of God at times makes my prayers dull and lifeless, as I try to accept whatever happens as somehow good.
3. PREOCCUPIED KING
Despite assurances that no sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing, we sometimes picture God as preoccupied with more important matters than what school we choose for our kids or whether to visit a dying father we don’t like. He’s absorbed with evangelism, crusades, political battles over abortion, and which church plant will become the next megachurch. Our prayers feel small, petty, not worthy of our preoccupied king’s attention. But we pray anyway, though we are not sure the King is listening.
4. VENDING MACHINE
The most common image of God that we don’t admit to but still hold is akin to Santa Claus or to a smiling buddy, with this difference: you don’t have to relate to a vending machine. Just put in the coins and collect your treat. We think of our prayer and worship with the same sentiment felt by a satisfied consumer walking away from a vending machine, biting into his Snickers candy bar. We pray right. It works. The parking spot opened up. The lump disappeared. The new job came along. Let’s pray more. Let’s insert more coins. God is good.
5. STERN PATRIARCH
This one often develops out of experience with religious fathers or legalistic churches. Carry the biggest Bible you can find to school. Walk away when someone uses a bad word. Place your napkin on your lap when you sit for dinner and wait quietly till Father arrives. Take a bite before he blesses the food and you’ll be sent to your room without eating. With this picture in our minds, God can be obeyed but not enjoyed. The idea of dancing with the Trinity (a favorite of mine) is near blasphemous, at least ridiculous. Prayer is stiff, rigid, the result of a God who is above us but not God with us. Worship lacks passion. Petitions are offered in a shy voice.
There they are the first five pictures of God that may come to our minds when we pray. Each one distorts prayer into something other than relating to the God who is who He is. Do any of these images come to mind as to how you picture God when you pray?
We will look at the next five tomorrow.
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