Traditions, Truth, and Praying with Your Eyes Open

Most Americans find it difficult to identify with the Jews who rock before the Western Wall in Jerusalem. I know I did at first.

It seemed, well, just . . . odd.

Then I thought about my traditions. Are they any less bizarre?

Traditions Truth and Praying with Your Eyes Open Traditions, Truth, and Praying with Your Eyes Open

(Photo: men praying at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Oddness just comes in different flavors. They’re called “traditions.”

Jews pray with their heads covered; we take our hats off.
Their prayers are public and loud and showy; ours are private and quiet and restrained.
They rock back and forth and mumble from a book; we bow our heads, close our eyes and utter unrehearsed words.

It’s easy in the familiarity of our own traditions to shake our fingers at the oddities of others. Jews pray while rocking, Muslims kneel with their bottoms in the air, and Christians bow our heads and close our eyes.

Blend any tradition—bowing, standing, prostrating, rocking, kneeling or jumping—with no personal relationship with the true God, and it’s totally pointless.

Maybe we Christians should open our eyes during prayer for a change.

Don’t Confuse Traditions with Truth

Before meals, my grandfather used to pray the same short prayer in Spanish. And while I didn’t understand a word of it, I could soon repeat it verbatim.

My bedtime prayers as a boy followed the same pattern:

“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; if I should . . .”

I could rattle that puppy off in about 10 seconds. But my heart was not in it.

Even our “extemporaneous” prayers follow traditions, don’t they?

Ever heard those who mutter “Father God” in every sentence they pray?
What about bowing our heads and closing our eyes—where is that in the Bible?
Even praying “in Jesus’ name” has become little more than a verbal cue for the end of a prayer. In fact, I dare you to end a public prayer without it and see if it doesn’t at least feel odd—almost like sacrilege. Someone may even question you on it.

Without our hearts engaged, our prayer is as hypocritical as those who don’t know God. (Tweet that.)

prayers 2 Traditions, Truth, and Praying with Your Eyes Open

Try Praying with Your Eyes Open

Even these days, old habits die hard. After giving thanks for dinner one evening, I opened my eyes to see one of my daughters just staring at me. “Do you know you pray the same thing every time?” she asked. From the mouths of babes. So the next night I made sure to pray from the heart.

“You changed it!” she exclaimed.

The unbelief Jesus rebuked was not an unbelief in the existence of God but one in which people lived as though He did not exist.

Let’s make sure our traditions are not confused with truth.

Pray with your eyes open for a change.

Question: What other traditions do we do that aren’t in the Bible? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands and Lessons of Christ (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2008), pages 129-130.

Get Your FREE E-book!

Subscribe to get new posts via email and immediately download my new devotional e-book FREE!

Grow Strong PDF cover 3D Traditions, Truth, and Praying with Your Eyes Open

We hate spam just as much as you

Dubonnet

Hello Dear Waynes,
Your article reflects in part the words of Jesus who said:“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. (Matthew 6:5-7 NASB)Best regards
- http://www.waynestiles.com/ Wayne Stiles
  
  That’s a great cross-reference! Thanks for mentioning it.
Rob

Well, the tradition of praying “privately, quietly and restrained” is true if you’re a Southern Baptist – of course, there are many other prayer traditions and practices within different denominations ..
Also, don’t assume that Jewish people pray in a “showy” way without their hearts engaged. It sort of reveals that you don’t really understand the heart of the people of the Land that you portray yourself as knowing so much about ..
- http://www.waynestiles.com/ Wayne Stiles
  
  I don’t presume to know anyone’s heart, Rob. Thanks for the reminder. The Land is easy to know, by comparison.
Rob

Also, keep in mind, that when Jewish people read prayers from their ‘Siddur’ book, they aren’t necessarily just doing something from rout and routine, without their hearts being in it .. The prayers in the Siddur are beautiful, heart felt prayers, passed down through the generations of the Jews, for literally thousands of years. It is probable, that John the Baptist and all the disciples of Jesus prayed publicly and privately from the Siddur, so we should respectfully take heed to how the Jewish people pray, and realize the historic tradition of the Siddur, isn’t a tradition necessarily unpleasing to God.
- http://www.waynestiles.com/ Wayne Stiles
  
  Thanks, John. Even our reading from the Bible requires the heart engaged. The act itself is neutral. Great point.
  - Dubonnet
    
    Dear Wayne,
    I can answer Rob. but I do not wish to controversy on this delicate subject that is ‘the true faith of a believer’ who prays with his heart.
    I was born in a country where the “Pater Noster” and “Ave Maria” repeated dozens of times is a sign of ‘sincere faith of the believer, and I respect those believers.
    secondly, I lived a few years in a Maghreb country and I also respect those believers who make a ritual prayers with sincerity equally convincing.
    But is this really what God wants us to do him?
    Let us remember the words of Jesus: ““But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” (John 4:23 NASB)
    cordially.
    sorry for my english spoken dreadful, I’m Belgian.
    - http://www.waynestiles.com/ Wayne Stiles
      
      What a gracious response; how refreshing. I agree with you. Indeed, there are many who are sincere in what they do, but sincerity alone isn’t the basis of truth, nor of God’s acceptance of a person. Jesus pointed to Himself when He spoke to the woman at the well. John wrote a similar truth many years later: “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:12). In other words, it isn’t enough just to pray sincerely but without Jesus. Thanks again for your cordial comment. And your English is great!
Pingback: Traditions, Truth, and Praying with Your Eyes Open | ChristianBlessings