Models of Prayer by Editor

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Aug 26, 1875

Models of Prayer.

By Editor

We have been interested in looking through the Scriptures for the purpose of comparing the prayers therein recorded with those which we hear from time to time in public, and we are astonished to see how they differ in point, expression, directness, and, above all, in length, from those heard in these days in the Christian pulpit. It is not exaggeration to say that we have listened to a single prayer longer than the whole ten that we find in the Bible put together. The first is in Genesis 24 : 12-14, and contains one hundred and ten words, and it is not more than one minute in length. The next is in Exodus 33 : 12-15, and contains one hundred and eleven words, and is not over a minute long. The third is in Joshua 7 : 7-9, and contains ninety words. The fourth is in 2 Kings 19 : 15-19, the prayer of Hezekiah; it is composed of one hundred and thirty-four words, and two minutes would be ample time to repeat it. Another is found in Nehemiah 1 : 5-11, and is about two minutes in length; another is in Ezra 9 : 6-15, and is about three minutes long; another is in 1 Kings 8 : 23-61, an important dedicatory prayer, offered by Solomon himself at the dedication of the temple, and it did not occupy more than six minutes; while that of Dan. 9 : 11-19 was probably less than four minutes long. The prayer of our Saviour, in the New Testament, John 17, is well known; it is contained in twenty-six verses, and is five minutes long; while the model prayer—the Lord's prayer—is far briefer still.

Now here are ten prayers, from those who certainly knew how to pray, and they are all less than thirty-five minutes long, or an average of three minutes each; and yet we sometimes hear men pray thirty and forty minutes, and after wandering all over the moral universe, and wearying their fellow-worshippers with vain repetitions, utterly fail of the prime object of all public prayer—to lift up the hearts of men to commune with Heaven. It must be an extraordinary occasion, equal at least to the dedication of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem to justify a prayer more than five minutes long. There are few “Oh’s” and “Ah’s” in these models; their authors do not often say, “O Lord, Lord,” but tenderly, filially, directly, quietly, simply, they ask the blessing they desire, as though they were children who knew that they were addressing One who was more willing to give them good gifts than they were to ask them at his hand.

“After this manner, therefore, pray ye: Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”—Gospel Banner.