Over the last two decades Bill O’Reilly has built the top-rated cable news show under the premise that in his show there is “no spin.” His contention: when issues are discussed on The O’Reilly Factor there is no media bias attempting to persuade the public. Instead, the show tells it like it is.
Regardless of what we think of Bill O’Reilly and his show we can certainly agree that he has put his finger on an issue common to all of us—we are prone to spin. Prayer is one area that we as Christians tend to spin. And when we read the Bible, especially the Psalms, we find that faithful, mature prayer is characterized by honesty. From confession to doubt to lament, the psalter is filled with prayers that seem to represent feeling. One such example is in Psalm 10.
“Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (v.1)
At first blush we might look at this and think, What is this guy doing? Is he questioning God’s knowledge or righteousness? How immature.
But upon further review we see that the writer is actually demonstrating admirable marks of maturity and intimacy with God. He goes on to cite in detail the game plan of the wicked. He shows how in their heart they oppose God. Their moral issue is actually a theological issue. This drives him into a petition that jealously contends for God’s honor to be vindicated even as the oppressed are comforted (vv. 12-18).
So often when we encounter bad news, whether in the news or in our personal lives, we quickly declaw it of its theological implications. Many of us suffer from a negativity that masks the theological implications. We perceive that things are broken, but we forget that God is a compassionate God that is going to fix things. We forget that sin is ultimately an attack upon God himself and an effort to dethrone him. Others live in a numbness to the bad news. Many comfortable Western evangelicals have been anesthetized by our material blessings and busy schedules. We process the news like people in traffic, compartmentalized and impersonal. Bouncing off the extremes of numbness or negativity we quickly spit out the news and pray our sanitized prayers. Too often we don’t feel the implications of the events around us.
God uses the difficult events in life as strange ministers to make us take stock. They force us to feel. Do you feel the rebellion? Do you feel the brokenness? Do you feel the hunger? Do you feel the injustice? These things are meant to prod us along to see that God’s name is not being hallowed and his will is not being done. Therefore, in prayer we respond with a feeling faithfulness that cries out to God to act. O God, judge, save and heal!
Praying in the spin zone is not healthy for us. The experiences of our lives are to provide the context for our praying. We are meant to feel, think, and pray. So we lament, rejoice, cry, sing, hope, and groan. The prayer closet should be the ultimate no spin zone.
