Of Pride and Prayer

“There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” (Ro 3:11 AV)

 

We often use this verse and apply it to the lost.  There are whole systems of soteriology built around this one verse and concept.  Paul is quoting Psalm 10:4. The idea is that in our carnal and natural state, we do not seek God.  We desire our sin more than we do God and therefore, unless a work of the Holy Spirit ensues, we will not seek the face of God.  This tendency can continue even after Christ takes up residence in our hearts.  Psalm 10:4 shows us the root cause.   “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” (Ps 10:4 AV) The wicked here; being the lost; are too proud to seek after God.  Self-sufficiency and self-dependency coupled with self-pleasure keep the wicked from naturally seeking the presence of God.  As I began to muse on these two verses, I wondered if an old nemesis could still be a problem for the child of God who does not seek God by prayer.  I wondered if our issue with a faithful and vibrant prayer life has pride as its root cause.  Survey after survey has been conducted to determine the prayer habits of God’s people and repeatedly, they are reported as dismal.  This problem is not constrained to the laity.  This problem of insufficient prayer time extends to all – including those who are called to minister.  So, is pride the cause?

Our problem is not our theology.  Our problem is not even our faith.  Our problem, as is the case with almost all our issues is the heart.  We have too many things that replace God.  Especially our affirmation and emotional needs.  We have a family.  We have a spouse.  We have friends.  We have a church family.  We even have ourselves.  We find affirmation in a lot of people and things.  For men, our affirmation comes from what we can produce.  For the ladies, our affirmation comes from relationships.  We have built around us that which we provide ourselves and then wonder where our prayer life is.  We do not seek after God because our pride has told us we do not need Him.  We do not need His approval or unconditional love because we have it from all those around us.  Or, like some, perhaps we are too scarred from experiences of the past to risk seeking affirmation from someone who may not give it.  Or, perhaps in our experience, we never did receive affirmation from the temporal sources of it, so we don’t know what it looks like.  We have compensated by telling ourselves we do not need it.  We have survived all our lives without being the most popular man on campus, so if God does not show us love beyond words, it is not any big deal.  We have adapted.  We have compensated.  We have sought after God for salvation.  The Holy Spirit convicted our hearts of sin and the need for a Savior.  We accepted that truth.  We believe that truth.  We hold to that truth.  But the relationship that comes with this salvation, we cannot see a desperate need to pursue it.  We are independent.  We are self-sufficient.  We treat our relationship with God the same way we treat most other relationships.  Self-serving and temporary.

The truth that people are too proud to seek God does not end at salvation.  Just because we were humble enough to seek God for salvation does not necessarily mean we will seek God for fellowship.  We do not bend the knee because we are too proud to bend the knee.  We don’t want to admit we need anyone.  We live alone and are quite content.  Our electronic world only compounds the problem.  We treat relationships as temporary and self-serving.  When they no longer meet a need, we simply ignore the texts, turn off the computer, or put our social media aside for a time.  We pick and choose our relationships based on what we can do for ‘self’ rather than what ‘self’ can do for others.   We do not seek God because we do not feel a need for Him.  When things need to be done, a problem needs to be fixed, a need must be met, or sin forgiven, we are all over prayer.  But to spend time with God for nothing else but to spend time with God is almost non-existent today.  Why?  Because we are too proud to admit we need God and His love more than anything else in the world.  We do not bend the knee nearly as much as we should because we are too proud to do so.  Pride has been, and always will be, the enemy.