Abraham, my Friend 49

So Abraham prayed… and God healed…

So… and… spiritual consequences. It is all so wonderfully matter-of-fact. Abraham prayed and God healed. In his dream to Abimelech God had spoken of Abraham in similar matter-of-fact words. He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live… Abimelech believed this word and rose early in the morning to put things right. It is this ‘putting things right’ that connects this narrative, in my mind, with the closing verses of James’ letter.

More praying prophets

James’ thoughts turn to prophets as he brings his letter to a close.

My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. (Jas 5:10 NKJV)

He identifies two prophets in particular; Job and Elijah. Job he sees as an example of patient endurance:

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. (Jam 5:11 NASB)

I have switched to the New American Standard Bible to highlight the fact that James is using different words. In general terms he speaks of the prophet’s qualities of ‘suffering and patience’ but of Job, he specifies ‘endurance’.

Most often, in the New Testament when we read the word ‘patience’ we should expand it to ‘patient-endurance’. I once listened to a lecture aimed at student teachers on the topic of ‘special education’. The students were going to work with those whom in the UK we describe as ‘having learning disabilities’, and whom in the USA are described as ‘mentally handicapped’. ‘What,’ said the lecturer, ‘is the most necessary quality of the teacher in special education?’ The question was a ‘set up’ and the students walked right into it! ‘Patience’ was the unanimous response. ‘No, no, no,’ protested the lecturer, ‘what does patience mean, waiting for something to happen? What the special education teacher needs,’ he declared, ‘is perseverance. You must stick at it until you get the result!’

The Greek word usually translated ‘patience’ in our King James Version is ‘hupermenO’. As regards its derivation, it means to ‘stay-under’ something, to continue to bear the burden, to ‘stick with it’. I recall an old Scots headmistress, who was a byword for consistency. ‘Christians who are going to be useful for God,’ she would say, ‘are like postage stamps; they have to have stickability.’ She has been with the Lord for over 30 years now, but it’s interesting that when I think of ‘faithful-perseverance’ I always think of Miss MacDonald! Job is not, biblically, the example of ‘patience’ but of ‘perseverance’!

When the troubles come, pray…

James moves on, but still clearly with the examples of the prophets in his mind; he is heading for Elijah. Elijah is an example too; this time, as all true prophets must be, of persistent and effective prayer. Let’s follow James’ line of thought. He has spoken of sufferings and now adds his Spirit-inspired counsel for all who undergo ‘suffering’.

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. (Jas 5:13 NKJV)

‘When the troubles come,’ he commands, ‘pray.’ The New American Standard Bible gets the spirit of the ‘imperative’: Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. I wonder whether this is always our reaction to suffering? Some just grit their teeth and get on with life; that is either ignorance or arrogance. It is a reliance on natural strength rather than dependence upon God.

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart… (Luke 18:1 NKJV)

Ultimately we will find these are the only options — pray or faint. ‘If you are merry, sing psalms’ is the other half of the counsel, and then he moves on to the issue of sickness.

I suspect that the ‘sick’ here are too sick to get to the meeting. Paul expects healing to be available through ‘gifts of healing’ in the gathered body, but James identifies the elders as the representatives of the local church, who are to be ‘called’:

Is any sick among you? let him call to [him] the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of [the] Lord… (Jas 5:14 DRBY)

Presumably, it was not possible to get the whole church around the bedside, so its representatives visit the sick, at their specific request. Perhaps, in passing, we should just comment that this is not the rite of ‘extreme unction’ practised by the Roman Catholic Church in which oil blessed by a bishop is administered, by a priest, to a dying person to cleanse from sins in preparation for death.

Hindrances to effective prayer

The same matter-of-fact style we noticed at the first reappears here in James:

And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed…  (Jas 5:15–16 NKJV)

William Tyndale, who avoided the word ‘confess’ because of its priestcraft implications, has ‘(ac)knowledge your faults one to another’. This was my link to the story of Abimelech; prayer cannot ignore unrighteousness. The prayer of faith shall save the sick, but not by ignoring God’s righteous requirements. It is an axiom of scripture that:

If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear. (Ps 66:18 NKJV)

It is a sobering teaching of Scripture that ‘sin’ hinders effective prayer:

Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Pet 3:7 NKJV)

I wonder how much prayer has been completely neutralised by husbands not honouring their wives?

Behold, Jehovah’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear. (Isa 59:1–2 ASV)

So Abraham, God’s prophet, will pray and God will heal; unhindered synergy, but not at the expense of righteousness. Abimelech must restore the man his wife…

Energized prayer

James now sets Elijah centre-stage and leads into the power of Elijah’s example with a basic but vital truth:

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. (Jam 5:16b NASB)

Some reading this NASB quotation will be sorry to see the loss of the word ‘fervent’. In fact, the word ‘fervent’ is not there but the word ‘effective’ doesn’t do it justice either. There is such energy in this word; in fact, this is the Greek word from which we get ‘energy’ — en-ergē — ‘to work in’. Its implication is that the work is not superficial but thorough, inward, and hence effective. This is not wasted work but effective, productive work. The work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration is described using this same word:

…and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (Eph 1:19 NKJV)

‘Fervency’ can be easily imitated; the energized prayer of a righteous man cannot. In prayer, it’s not the amount of steam going through the whistle that counts, but that going into the pistons. The sound of the whistle is exhilarating but it’s the steam in the pistons that gets the job done.

James says that it is the righteous man who prays this kind of productive prayer. ‘Righteous’ does not mean judicial righteousness in James but outward conformity to God’s righteous requirements. This is a holy man at prayer; his prayer has an inward power and availeth much or as the English Standard Version translates it:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (Jam 5:16 ESV)

A man, like us

James now illustrates his point in the story of a prophet.

Elijah was a man like affected as we, and with prayer he did pray — not to rain, and it did not rain upon the land three years and six months… (Jam 5:17 YLT)

Young’s Literal Translation often reads strangely but we shall return to this verse to trace another truth shortly, and Young’s expresses it best. Elijah was like us. We often find it easy to identify with Elijah’s frailties but the events accomplished in this life were accomplished by an ordinary man… who prayed. His achievements were not the consequence of his greater gifts or better opportunities, but because… he prayed. If Elijah, why not me? What God has done with one, he can do with another. What he has done once, he can do again. What he has achieved through Elijah, he can achieve through you or me, if he chooses.

The King James Version says that Elijah ‘prayed earnestly’. Young’s Literal has the exact words with prayer he did pray. To get the sense of this we need to remind ourselves that James is the most Hebrew-minded of the New Testament contributors and Hebrew has a special idiom for intensifying an idea; it repeats the word. The King of kings means the ‘ultimate King’. The Holy of Holies means ‘the most holy place’. Solomon wrote 1005 songs but the ‘Song of songs’ was his greatest song. When God warned Adam of the consequences of disobedience He said:

…and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it — dying thou dost die.’  (Gen 2:17 YLT)

This was an ultimate death, not merely the ceasing of life. Keeping these Hebrew idioms in mind we can see why the KJV translators opted for prayed earnestly; there is powerful intensity in this praying. Elijah didn’t ‘say his prayers’ as children are encouraged to do, neither did ‘he read prayers’ as some religious systems advocate. Elijah prayed his prayer; there is a powerful concentration in this praying. I am not referring to the kind of intensity that people sometimes develop — an obsession. This rather is the fierce uncompromising focus of a man or woman who has entered their closet and closed the door; nothing may accompany them here. And none of their experiences here can ever be told outside, but the consequences will surely be seen.

Undistracted prayer

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Matt 6:6 NKJV)

No other passions may enter to distract:

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive [are receiving] them, and you will have them. (Mark 11:24 NKJV)

Oswald Chambers once said that the will is the ‘whole being’ focused:

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. (John 15:7 NKJV)

Surely Elijah’s whole being was in his praying. Again, I refer not to human intensity but that God-given ability of focus.

“Every one that asketh receiveth.” We pray pious blether, our will is not in it, and then we say God does not answer; we never asked for anything. “Ye shall ask what ye will,” said Jesus. Asking means our will is in it. Whenever Jesus talked about prayer, He put it with the grand simplicity of a child; we bring in our critical temper and say—“Yes, but. . .” Jesus said—“Ask.” But remember that we have to ask of God things that are in keeping with the God Whom Jesus Christ revealed. (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost Sept 16)

So Abraham prayed… and God healed… How then shall we pray?

• With all known wrongs righted,
• with conscious dependence upon the inward Pray-er, (The Spirit)
• secretly, giving God time to bring our divided attentions into his focus,
• asking,
• believing,
• receiving…
• praying, …as we love, … with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.

The prayer of (this kind of) faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.