What If It's Too Hard to Pray?

 

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2:1-12 ESV).

 

Yesterday I ended the devotional with the encouragement to “just pray.” It occurred to me that there are those times in our lives when we feel we are too broken, too sorrowful, too stressed, or too sinful to reach out to Jesus for healing? I’ve known folks who struggled so much that the simplicity of “just pray” was entirely too difficult to grasp, mush less practice. There are those times when you don’t believe you can pray. It is then that we must know others are praying for us. This is the incredible blessing of community in the faith. These are those times when we are paralyzed with grief and struggling to stand. These are those times when we must simply “kneel” as others bring us before the Father.

 

Today’s Bible reading tells of a man who couldn’t get to Jesus on his own because he was paralyzed. His friends decided to make a way through when they could find no other way to reach Jesus. So they climbed up on the roof, made a hole in it, and lowered their friend on his mat to meet Jesus. The first thing Jesus did was to heal the man’s soul by forgiving his sins, and then he healed the man’s body so that he could walk. Jesus knows exactly what we need. When we just can’t bring ourselves to Jesus, the family of God can carry us to him in prayer. Trust God and place yourself in the hands of fellow pilgrims who understand the power of God in the midst of our struggles.