Prayer is Timeless

We are encouraged by the Church and the saints to be always in a state of prayer. As part of our Holy Tradition, we gather as an Orthodox Christian family to pray in Church. We pray in the privacy of our homes. We even pray, or at least we are encouraged to pray, as we go through our daily life. Did you ever pray for something or someone in your past?

Today is the commemoration of the conception of the Holy Prophet and Forerunner John the Baptist. You can read the account from the Gospel According to Saint Luke below. Today something hit me that has never hit me before. The Archangel Gabriel said to Zacharias, “Your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.” Take a moment and read the passage and I’ll explain what hit me today.

At that time, in the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth; for he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zacharias, and they wondered at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he made signs to them and remained dumb. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she hid herself, saying, “Thus the Lord has done to me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.”

Luke 1.5-25

We know from the story that Zacharias doubted the word of the angel because his wife was old and barren. If that was the case, (this is what hit me today) then why pray for her to have a child? Could it be that the Archangel was referring to all those years that Zacharias had prayed as a young man for a child? Could it be that God heard his pray so many years ago and said, “Ok. You will have a child, but it won’t be for a few decades yet.”

It is so easy to forget that we are bound by earthly time constraints, but not God. God is beyond time. He hears our prayers today as if they were offered a thousand years ago, or a thousand years from now. It could be that Zacharias had stopped praying for a child and accepted God’s will now that he was an old man, but still for some reason Zacharias doubted.

This story has a lesson for us beyond the historical account of the conception of John the Baptist. The lesson we should accept from this reading is that prayer is timeless. Think about those in your life that ‘gave you trouble’ and begin to pray for them. Your prayer today could be what stopped the trouble from being worse in the past. Think about the people and situations in your future and pray for them. Your prayer today might be what inspires your grandson to become a priest in the future.

Stop thinking of prayer in ‘just the here and now’ and begin thinking of prayer in the eternal. God is not limited to here and now. He is eternal and His plan is an eternal plan. Stop thinking because you don’t ‘get what you want’ now that God is saying no. Maybe, like Zacharias, He is saying you must wait a few decades for the right time.

Spend a few moments today reviewing your prayer list of names at your altar. Or, if you don’t have a prayer list of names, create one today. As Orthodox Christians we pray for the living and the dead every day. Don’t bother with ‘why’ or ‘what’ people need. Just pray for them, but make sure you include especially those who you used to struggle with as well those who you struggle with now. Leave the timing up to God.