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| The Disaster of Prayerlessness |
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What Can Happen When We Forget to Ask God
I once heard a story about a young preacher who, thanks to a wealthy member of his church, had the opportunity to fly back and forth to the nearest theological university for his training. For many months, when the flight attendants would come down the aisle and offer soft drinks and snacks, the man would say, "No, thanks."
Finally, on his last trip home at the end of his schooling, the preacher was prepared. When refreshments were offered, he reached into his pocket and took out the money he had saved for the occasion. The surprised flight attendant told him, "Oh, sir, airline snacks are included in the price of your ticket!"
How many times do we do this in our spiritual lives? All God's powerful resources already have been promised to us, but we forget to ask for them! I wonder how many disasters we could avoid if we would just pray. Our failure to pray opens up a soft underbelly to the devil; he can have a field day with us when we're not praying. The Bible is ful1 of disasters that could have been averted through prayer. They serve as good lessons to us.
1. The Gibeonite Deception
(Josh. 9:1-14).
When Joshua's army took Jericho and then Ai, the other Canaanite tribes reacted. Several tribes came together to make war against Joshua; but one tribe, the Gibeonites, attempted to trick him into a peace treaty. Even though they lived only a three-day ride from Joshua's advancing troops, the Gibeonites appeared at the Israelite camp in old clothes, wearing worn-out sandals and carrying weathered wineskins and moldy bread. They appeared to live a long way off, too far to interfere with Joshua's planned invasion of Canaan.
What did Joshua and his leaders do? "The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD" (Josh. 9:14).
This failure to seek God's wisdom in prayer cost Israel dearly. Fooled by the Gibeonites, Joshua swore to a treaty with them (against God's will) and then had to spill Jewish blood to protect this pagan tribe (Josh. 10:1-7).
2. Israel Asks for a King
.(1 Sam. 12:6-23).
After the chaotic period of the judges, Samuel appeared on the scene to unify Israel. But toward the end of his career, the nation demanded a king; they wanted to be like the other nations. Samuel's distress at their request erupts in his farewell speech (1 Samuel 12). Grieved more with their prayerlessness than with their political naivet€, Samuel appeals to their sense of national history. He wants Israel to understand that deliverance had always come through prayer, not political solutions (vv. 8 and 10, compared to 12).
In one of the greatest sermons ever preached on the evils of prayerlessness, Samuel ends by calling it a sin. "As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you" (1 Sam. 12:23), he says.
3. King Ahaziah's Death
(2 K. 1:1-17).
When King Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room, he immediately sent messengers to consult the pagan god Baal to see if he would recover. The king's messengers were quickly confronted by Elijah the prophet, who delivered a stunning message to the king himself: "Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on" (2 K. 1:16). King Ahaziah's failure to seek Jehovah in prayer cost him his life.
4. King Saul Loses His Kingdom
(1 Chron. 10:13-14).
As King Saul's spiritual decline led to his political demise, he found himself losing a do-or-die battle with the Philistine army. In despair, Saul committed suicide on the battlefield. But the writer of Chronicles reports the deeper reason for Saul's end: "Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD . . . and did not inquire of the LORD. So the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse"(1 Chron. 10:13-14). Refusing to be a man of prayer, Saul lost his chance to be one of Israel's great kings.
5. Uzzah Falls Dead
(1 Chron. 13:9-12, 15:13).
Early in his career, as he consolidated his kingdom, King David wanted to move the ark of God to Jerusalem. But as they began the move, a helper named Uzzah died on the spot when he reached out to steady the holy artifact.
David became angry because he feared the ark couldn't be moved to Jerusalem without more manifestations of God's wrath. Eventually, after seeking God, David realized that God's anger had been provoked because "[they] did not inquire of him about how to [move the ark] in the prescribed way" (1 Chron. 15:13). Uzzah died because Israel presumed to embark upon an encounter with God's holiness without spending serious time in prayer.
6. Jerusalem Falls to Babylon
(Ezk. 22:30-31).
During Ezekiel's time, idolatry and paganism contaminated the whole land. God had revealed to Ezekiel that His fiery judgment would come down on all levels of society in Jerusalem. Then, in one of the Bible's most chilling statements, God tells Ezekiel that prayers and intercessions could have turned away this punishment: "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them" (Ezek. 22:30-31). Because He could find no one who would pray, God allowed Babylon to engage a ruthless holocaust over Jerusalem.
7. The Demon Won't Leave
(Mk. 9:23-29).
When Jesus descended from the mountain where He had been transfigured, He found His disciples arguing with a large crowd. A man in the crowd explained the argument: he had brought his demon-possessed son to the disciples, but they couldn't overpower the evil spirit.
After Jesus cast out the spirit, His disciples asked Him privately why they couldn't do it. His answer must have stung. He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer" (Mk. 9:29, some manuscripts add "and fasting").
Jesus had just spent the entire night in prayer on the mountain and thus had the power to overwhelm even the strongest demon. Yet His disciples, in their prayerless pursuits, didn't have the spiritual leverage.
All these examples—calamitous decisions, lost kingdoms, destroyed national hopes, demonic harassment, and even death itself—all rode in on the back of prayerlessness. When we don't pray, we evacuate the battlefield and let the devil win by default. When we don't pray, we're at the mercy of the dominion of darkness. When we don't pray, we stand alone and face hell's forces with only our human wits. When we don't pray, we invite disaster.
James, the Lord's brother, was said to have knees like a camel's because he prayed so much. His letter to the church numbers 108 verses, with 21 of them about prayer. One of his best-known statements says flat out that prayerless people will always live in an unblessed wasteland: "You do not have, because you do not ask God" (Jas. 4:2).
Looking at what can happen when we don't pray has made me more determined to turn up the intensity in my prayer life. I don't want to miss the joy of the ride, like that young preacher on the airplane, simply because I didn't ask. Will you join me?
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About the Author
KEITH ROBERTS, D.Min., is dean of the CrossView College of Prayer, a two-year extension program leading to the Certificate of Prayer Ministry diploma. The college is part of his congregation's School of Prayer, founded in 1993. Keith also conducts prayer seminars nationwide and is pulpit minister and one of the elders for the Calhoun Church of Christ in northern Louisiana.
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