Lessons From Kids

One night, when our kids were quite young, we were about to have our family evening prayer before going to bed. We noticed that our youngest son, who was six years old at the time, was dozing off to sleep. To help him stay awake through the prayer time, he was called upon to pray first. Because he was eager to go to bed, he quickly and drowsily said his prayer, which consisted of three words, “Jesus, Jesus. Bye!”

Of course, his prayer elicited some laughter among the rest of us, but since then I have reflected on the goodness of the Lord in answering prayers. It is a wonderful feeling to know that our God understands our prayers. He knows how we pray, He knows why we pray, and He knows what we want out of the prayer. He gave us a model prayer but not a set prayer. He knows that our conditions, circumstances, emotions, and sense of urgency will vary from time to time.

It makes no difference to God that a child’s prayer might make no sense to us—our God understands. It doesn’t matter to Him that a toddler might ask God for his own airplane—He realizes that children want toys that are big and fun. God never frets because a teenager prays in desperation—He sympathizes with the emotional swings of that age. God would not scold a mother for being overanxious in the content of her prayer—our God understands the caring heart of motherhood.

Regardless of whether our prayer is softer than a whisper or louder than a bell; whether it is one syllable, a sentence, or a daylong liturgy, God filters our prayers to give us the best that we might not have known nor been able to appreciate at the moment. The Lord has promised us, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24). What a promise! What a God!