The Why of Prayer: Confession

As we begin our Lenten study of the mechanics of prayer, our first question is "Why?" Why do we pray? Why should we pray?

There are some basic answers to this "Why?" question. There is strong evidence that God wants us to pray, which might render other reasons superfluous. All of the great exemplars of faith in the Bible prayed. Jesus prayed a lot, we read in the gospels; sometimes he prayed with crowds, sometimes with the disciples, sometimes by himself. We even read that Jesus prayed while he was on the cross. More than that, Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, offering them a model -- which we know as The Lord's Prayer -- and suggestions how not to pray. As Christians, we are expected to follow this teaching.

If we set God's expectations aside momentarily, we can also see that there are personal reasons why we pray apart from any obligation of faith. Something deep inside us instinctively reaches out to God. Our souls yearn for God, writes the Psalmist several times. The catch, though, is that sometimes we want to avoid God, especially when we know that we've done something wrong. We hide, not wanting God to find us out and punish us.

The sad fact is that we are broken people, having sinned and fallen far short of our potential. We want a positive relationship with God, but we know we don't deserve it. We don't want to be punished by God, but we know we do deserve that. This brokenness creates a rift in our relationship with God -- a separation between God and us.

Prayer is one way that God bridges this separation with us; over time, prayer even serves to mend the rift and lessen the separation. We share our lives openly with God -- the good, the bad, and the ugly -- and God shares grace and understanding and transformation on us.

On this Ash Wednesday, it is good to recognize the first reason why we pray -- we've fallen short and we need to confess our mistakes to God. Confession is not always easy; often we are terrified of the consequences we may face for taking responsibility for our previous bad actions. But it is a necessary first step in healing our relationship with God, just as it is often a necessary first step in healing our broken relationships with other people that we've hurt.

When you pray, don't sugar-coat your confession: God already knows what you did, so you'll only be deceiving yourself. Be sincere: confess those things you truly regret. If there are things you think you should regret, but don't, ask yourself why you feel that way. They ask God the same question.

Today's Prayer Prompt: Think of at least one thing you've done wrong that you haven't confessed to God. Start your confession with that and go from there.