Prayer through the watches of night

So many people are going through very hard times right now, and perhaps at least in our living history, the hardest of times ever.

I wonder if now is the time to imagine prayer being like the watches of night.  As we struggle in lament, in numbness, or in anxiety, overwhelmed by in the present state of affairs, or by thought of the unknown future and what that holds, we are counselled well to pray and to imagine we are being prayed for.

I appreciate people letting me know that I can pray for them.  It means they trust me with their concerns, anxieties, griefs and lived-situations.  People often feel inadequate or that they are a burden.  For me, there is no burden in reading a prayer request, and holding that in my heart as I pray.  God also impresses on my heart times to pray for people.

Prayer through the watches of the night is about envisioning that there are so many going through a dark night of the soul experience.  And when we’re on prayer watch, through the watches of night, we can hold you there, safe before the Lord.

When my wife and I were losing Nathanael in 2014, we were amazed at just how much we felt carried by other people’s prayers, and in fact our faith was made easy at this time.  There have been subsequent times in our grief where it is been harder, where we haven’t felt so carried by others’ prayers.  So, knowing we have people praying for us makes a difference.

It won’t be long now and I will need to take a break from writing for a short time in order to focus on getting balances right in my own life as we as a family prepare for a future we hadn’t anticipated.  We are thankful that as of three or four weeks ago I turned a corner mentally that we had been praying for.  I do feel ready for change now if the Lord calls us that way.  I need to be open to overhauling my work arrangements, because as a family, like many of you, we are vulnerable right now.

But not everybody is in that situation, and if you had have asked me four weeks ago, I would’ve been at a loss to know how to deal with the thought of how I would adapt to change.  I say this so you are not alone.  If you are struggling you are in very good company, not that I call myself very good, but at least you know you aren’t alone.  You can know that it doesn’t matter who we are, all of us are open to struggling.

So as we pray for each other through the watches of our nights, let us be cognisant that we all need prayer, and that we all have the honour of praying.

Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash