Praying for the President: Should I, Would I?

A neighboring pastor, Jerry Fallwell Senior, used to say that people in Lynchburg VA would either pucker (as in to kiss) or spit when they saw him coming. Clearly, our current President, Donald Trump, brings out those kinds of polar responses in the political social realm. I'll leave it to others to sort out which pole, or perhaps a mediating view, is right about the current resident of the White House. My thought today has to do with an interesting encounter another Virginia pastor had with Mr. Trump.
At this point, I'll quote from Tim Challies's blog. I had heard about Trump appearing before a church asking for prayer. It was Challies who provoked me to click and learn more.

PRAYER FOR THE PRESIDENTDavid Platt explains how he found himself praying for President Trump on Sunday morning. “Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that we didn’t see coming, and we’re faced with a decision in a moment when we don’t have the liberty of deliberation, so we do our best to glorify God. Today, I found myself in one of those situations.”

Platt found himself in a very typical pastoral situation, not that the President regularly appears in a church requesting prayer, but pastors frequently find themselves in situations when they have to make potentially important--even life-altering decisions in a very brief time. I have often been in these Nehemiah moments. You remember, don't you, when Nehemiah stood before the absolute sovereign of Persia. In the sycophantic culture of the palace, Nehemiah had been caught in what could be a capital crime. “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick?" (Nehemiah 2:2) Sadness in the monarch's presence was considered an insult. Nehemiah bravely summarized the source of his discomfort, the plight of his people, the Jews, who lived on the fringe of the Persian kingdom. I figure Nehemiah's senses must have been on high alert. The plight of his people was the result of the policy and practice of the Persian administration, and he was standing before the Supreme Persian. Nehemiah's relief at not being immediately dragged away was short-lived.
Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?”" (2:4)
In that brief moment--that was all he had--Nehemiah prayed.
I figure Platt uttered one of those "Help, Lord!" prayers as he decided how to handle the request put before him. President Trump had shown up, unannounced, toward the end of a service, and requested that the McLean Bible Church have a time of public prayer for him. (It would appear from the report that the President's request was not disruptive--at least not to those other than Pastor Platt.)
I've not made requests before all-powerful Kings or had the controversial President of my nation appear at a service requesting prayer. I have, many, many times found myself in situations when I needed to decide fairly quickly, knowing that the decision wasn't completely black or white and/or knowing that either way I decided there would be consequences, some negative. Just off the top of my head here are some. Fellow pastors will note, "been there, decided that."

• Phone call from a funeral director: "Rev. Merrell, The family of Sally Jones has asked that you speak at her funeral." At this point the default, "Yes, of course." answer is on my lips. "Oh, and by the way Rev. Objectionable will also be speaking." Fill in the blank. Rev. Objectionable is a heretic, sexually immoral person, member of a group that is Theologically obnoxious, or someone who has instulted me and my church, etc.
• Walking into a hospital room of a person who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease. The family has been diagnosed with a sickness called "denial." In hushed tones they instruct me, "Don't mention that she has cancer." 
• In spite of my best efforts to set up policies and guidelines, someone or something comes along that doesn't quite fit what I had already decided. As I make up my mind I can already hear the protests, "But you didn't do that for . . ." The nuance that influenced my spur of the moment decision would be lost on my detractors.
• I wish I could more consistently take comfort in the knowledge that our Lord suffered at the hands of critics. "He hangs out with tax-collectors and prostitutes." Too frequently, my thoughts continue, "Yes, and they crucified Him."

I could go on, but I think I have made the point, at least one point, of this post. Church-member, your pastor is called on to make decisions that you will never have to make and often make those choices in a Nehemiah moment. Cut him some slack. More importantly, pray for him.

For what it is worth, I think Platt made the right decision. He probably won't read this, but I figure I ought to stick up for someone who is making a good effort to do the right thing in a turblent context. To those who think otherwise, I ask you to consider, would your objection still be there if the President were Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Sanders, or (fill in the blank with your favorite)?

I also was convicted by the news. I find it difficult to consistently pray for my leaders. Often mention of "Kings and all who are in high places" in my public prayers are most prominent by their absence. I need to do better.

Below is the link to a post in which Pastor Platt shares his thoughts. It concludes with a video of him praying for President Trump.

https://www.mcleanbible.org/prayer-president

BTW, a word of thanks to Denise Gregson for giving me a heads up about Tim Challies post. :)

Finding God's Will For My Life:

One of the most difficult matters to understand in regard to basic Christian living is, "How do I discern God's will?"
Intuitively, we know that decisions related to schooling, vocation, marriage, and finance have great impact on the course of our lives, so making right choices in these areas, and others, is incredibly important.  God desires that my life be lived in a way that is pleasing to Him, so He must care how I make these choices.  How do I know what He wants me to do?

Being sensitive to the Lord and desirous of living life in a way that is pleasing to Him is highly virtuous.  The Bible is clear that everything I do ought to demonstrate a life of surrender to God.  I am to be a "living sacrifice."  (Romans 12:1-2)  All that I do is to be done to His glory. (1 Corinthians 10:31) The reality of life is that even the smallest of decisions can have major impact on my life and others.  (See "Other Stuff #3, Three Little Things with Large Impact" )


The Bible gives solid guidance on a great many matters, but it doesn't speak to what school I should attend, job I should take, or woman I should marry, much less what car I should purchase--or even if I should purchase one, or whether I should take the expressway, or the back roads to work.  


I was raised on what Gary Friesen and J. Robin Maxson call the "Traditional Approach."  I was encouraged to seek the" perfect will of God."  My goal was to be "in the center of God's will."  As I considered the decisions above, I really did want to do God's will.   The problem, or one of the problems, was I was using a very imprecise means to attempt to arrive at a perfectly precise goal.  The counsel of other Godly people was supposed to help, but they often didn't agree, and observation indicated that they were frequently wrong.  Circumstances were offered as indicators.  Was the door opened or closed?  Yet my observation of the door-ajar-or-closed-fast system of guidance was not very encouraging.  Two well-motivated, seemingly Godly people would approach the same open door.  One would conclude it was opened by God and was a divine directive to proceed, while the other would conclude it was a temptation from Satan to distract from the real objective.  Likewise there was no unanimity on how hard one ought to push on a closed door before concluding God was directing one elsewhere.  The same uncertainty existed in regard to other "indicators of God's will,"  the desires of my heart, my abilities and inclinations, the need, the call, etc. etc.


The book Decision Making and the Will of God . . . , linked above, as well as a message by Cary Perdue, pretty well sealed the deal in my thinking that the approach I had been raised with didn't work.  You can read Friesen and Maxson's book, as well as find abundant material about it, so I won't comment on it.  Perdue, a pastor, educator, and first rate student of the Word, arrested the attention of those who heard him speak at a Bible college alumni event when he said something like this:  "You can be absolutely sure of the will of God for your life."   (speaking of the kind of decisions I have described)  Here Dr. Perdue inserted a pregnant pause.  "After the fact."  
I don't want to do an injustice to my colleague, but if I remember correctly what he went on to explain in the rest of the message is that we should be living  a life of practical faith.  I saved a copy of the handout that Dr. Perdue gave out that day.  On the last page of his notes he said:

Act in confidence.Check the discussion in James 1:5-8 about wisdom, faith and lack of double-mindedness.  Having followed the six previous steps [Be willing to do God's will.  Obey what God has already told you.  Pray about it. Study the Bible.  Get counsel.  Think.] make a decision being confident of God's guidance.  It will be a step of faith . . .  [Emphasis mine]

If Cary gives me permission, I'll scan and post his article.  It is no less relevant today than it was nineteen years ago.


My interest about the ongoing issue of the will of God was piqued anew by an article by Steve Cornell.  His thoughts are mainly expressed in a series of brief quotations from sound Biblical thinkers like Friesen, Maxson, J. I. Packer, D. A. Carson, and John MacArthur.


I forwarded the article to several colleagues.  
My son told me it was very timely.  He had just taught a group of potential missionaries on this subject.  He used the article as a follow-up.  
An associate told me, tongue in cheek, I think, that it was a good article.  "God told him so."
Another, David Owen, who works with college-aged folk--the group for whom these questions are most important--commented after expressing agreement with the gist of the article:

Most times the “voice in the head” is our own.  I am a little nervous however with going too far the other direction by completely dismissing the voice of the Spirit which we see operating in the Bible from beginning to end. The Spirit spoke and acted occasionally in scripture in some strange ways and there is nothing definitive in scripture that says that this has stopped. I would see it as being rare in Bible times and it would probably still be rare today. Of course the Spirit of God will always lead within the framework and boundaries of scripture. In 30+ years of ministry I would say that I have heard what I know is the voice of God leading me three times – and it was always within the boundaries of scripture.

Before Al Gore invented the internet, Cary expressed agreement via a mimeograph with Dave. 

 Does God ever reveal specific parts of His plan for our lives?  Yes, probably not very often, but occasionally.  Can we expect Him to.  Probably not if we expect Him to give us some special, direct revelation.  Should we ever seek such direction?  Yes, but we cannot demand it [and] we should not become indecisive it we have no clear direction from God.

For what they are worth I shared the following in response to Dave's thoughts.

I think you expressed the matter well.

The way I try to deal with it is to admit the subjectivity of this kind of "leadership" or "direction." Call it what it is.  "I have an inner impression that this is what I should do.  I think this is where the Lord is leading."--even more-so when it is what "we should do." That leaves the matter open for discussion and counsel.  When I begin with some variation of  "God told me" about the only rejoinder is, "No He didn't."  Not the stuff from which profitable conversations are built.  To paraphrase our former president from your home state, "Heed, but verify." Yes, God does lead through inner impressions.  I think generally in ways that I don't even recognize.  I end up where I am because included in God's sovereign oversight is His access to my mind.  When I consciously enter the conversation on that level I am liable to mess it up. I know you agree that it must be stated that any disagreement between the clear teaching of scripture and God's word, must be decided in favor of God's word.Inner voices, when they are valid, are not the only guidance mechanism God has given.  Already stated is the Bible.  The Body of Christ, and the gifted individuals in the church cannot be ignorred either.  I am wise to run inner impressions that I think are Divine by such resources.  In the day in which we live, I would consider those resources to include print and internet options--what I am doing right now.  (two guys on different sides of the world sharpening one another.)Any action I take whether guided by inner impression or not ought to be taken with faith in God's sovereignty.  It is too cold to call it a contract (at least it seems so to me) but there is nearly a contract in passages like Prov. 3:5-6, Psalm 37:4, & Rom. 12:1-2.  If we do ____, God will be out front preparing the way, give us the desires of our heart (context) & allow us to live in such a way that we will prove like an assayer the worth of His good and perfct will.  Or as Phillips put it, "so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good"God is so great that He is even soveriegn over my mind.  Talk about order out of chaos.  Keep in mind, however, that I still live in the "not yet."  I still need a lot of mental cosmetics."

Then today I read a follow-up post from Cornell, "Ten Principles for Godly Decisions."

Hopefully all of this will provide some profitable grist leading to confident, Godly living.

I welcome your comments.

To any wives who might be listening, if you are such a wife that appreciates such a statement, in a way that will offend no one else, I love you:

To any wives who might be listening, if you are such a wife that appreciates such a statement, in a way that will offend no one else, I love you:

Try offering that to the lady who shares your home and life. Now, there is a sure route to a night on the couch, a cold supper, frigid shoulder, and a hot stare.

Yet, this is essentially how Christian leaders are being asked to pray in public.
Listen to what a supposedly Christian clergyman had to say on the subject. I take this quote from Al Mohler's blog, January 14:

Bishop Robinson said he had been reading inaugural prayers through history and was “horrified” at how “specifically and aggressively Christian they were.”
“I am very clear,” he said, “that this will not be a Christian prayer, and I won’t be quoting Scripture or anything like that. The texts that I hold as sacred are not sacred texts for all Americans, and I want all people to feel that this is their prayer.” (Bishop Robinson is a Bishop in the Episcopal Church, which claims to be Christian.)

Can a prayer addressed to a maybe God--I want to be unoffensive, so even if I do believe, I'll act like I don't--truly be called a prayer at all?
I had mentioned this a couple of posts ago in relation to a controversy that is ongoing in a neighboring municiplaity, and thanks to the aid of the ACLU, threatens even governmental meetings in areas as small as mine. This is pluralism gone amuk. Public respect, and politeness ought not to mean that one never says or prays anything that could potentially be offensive to anyone. Maybe some hypotheticals will help make the point:

• When a Rabbi prays I know that he/she does not think that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. In fact that prayer may be offered with the thought behind it that for many centuries, many who called themselves Christians have done horrible things to Jews. I need to respect that prayer. I ought to behave in a respectful way when it is offered. If I find it offensive I ought to examine my heart and see if I am among the guilty. If so I need to repent. Since the prayer is coming from a Theological viewpoint that I believe is flawed I ought not to expect that it will be in full agreement with me. To the extent that I find agreement with the requests offered in the prayer, I am likely to silently add, "I ask this in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen"
  
• If a Muslim prays and asks for peace to come in the Middle-East, I can offer a qualified "Amen." Meaning that I am taking a prayer that is theologically flawed, from my viewpoint, and translating it into a prayer--from my heart, offered to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God Who eternally exists in the three persons of the Trinity--for peace in that war torn part of the world. The fact that likely we disagree radically about what a just settlement of that conflict looks like, does not prevent me from being prompted to pray. My prayer interests overlap with the Immam's so I can in that sense be led in prayer by him.
  
• If an atheist stands up at the beginning of a council meeting and says, "Friends, there is no one here other than we people. I take this moment to remind us to do the best we can--to let the best of our humanity shine forth . . ."
  I will, in the privacy of my heart, smile at his/her ignorance of the true God (or perhaps weep), and the true nature of people. I will acknowledge that we ought to do our best, but that without God's help, I know we won't. I will ask God to help us to do so. . . .
  
• If the chairman of the Can't-we-all-just-get-along, vegan, recycling-is-the-way-to-save-the-world, hug-a-tree, and be-nice-both-your-mothers--the one who gave birth to you, and mother earth (maybe even Mother Goose) society calls for a moment of silence and then interupts the quiet with an "OOOMMM," I won't join the chant, but I won't picket the meeting either. I will redeem that moment of quiet as an opportunity to talk to my Father, the creator and sustainer of the world. I will commit to be a good steward of the resurces that God has placed at my disposal . . .

I won't be offended. I see no reason for others to be offended when I pray in Jesus name.

A civil society requires not only that we not be needlessly offensive, but that we not be excessively offended.

There is a sweet term that is used by folk who still have some Southern genteelity about them. "Don't be ugly." When called on to pray in a public forum, we ought not to be ugly. Some of my colleagues, Christian and otherwise, have not heeded that advice. But to ask me to pray like I don't really believe in the God to Whom I am praying is idiotic.

I'm not asking people of other faiths to pray that way, so I ask that people of other faiths not ask me to pray that way.