Today is International Prayer Day and I can't help but wonder how many prayers start with, "Oh God!" but never continue. One could easily argue that this is enough, after all God is all knowing so doesn't need to hear me bleating on about the fact I'm skidding out of control on my bike at 50km towards a steep drop off! However I do remember pondering a billboard I saw in Hamilton that said:
Everytime you say my name I get excited - God
It made me chuckle, then made me think about prayer, what it is, what it is supposed to be, and the enormous chasm that often exists between the two.
Personally I think that 'Oh God' is a great starter for prayer. I'm sure we could fill a book (a large book) with prayers everyday people would actually pray if we started them all with that simple 'Oh God' phrase. Often it is said as a statement as opposed to an opening line, and even as a statement it still sounds to me like some of the Psalms (it is just they only printed the ones which continued)!
The challenge to me of the 'Oh God' prayer isn't finishing it (after all sometimes it doesn't need to be finished)! The challenge is remembering that if prayer is a conversation, then hollering 'Oh God' as a skid out of control towards a crash may be a statement, but it is one that needs to continue.
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