Praying with Understanding of the Times

Tell story about volcano in Iceland – just one of God’s mountains . . . shut down all air transportation in an entire continent!  God is powerful and awesome!

We were at some friends’ house during the volcano crisis, and they shared about friends of theirs who were en route to Romania to do a family conference, but were stuck in the airport in Chicago.  We could have prayed any number of ways – if you know anything about Eastern Europe, you know that functional families are few and far between, so it would have been easy to just assume that we should pray for them to get there in time to do the conference.  We waited on God and prayed for understanding of what God was doing at that particular time.  We prayed specifically for God to use them in the airport, to give them divine appointments with others who were in that high stress situation.  Here’s part of the email we received the next day:

While standing in line with folks who are stranded in Chicago, two people on the team had the chance to share the Lord with two men in a pretty neat conversation about the meaning of life.  The Lord has allowed us to start building relationships with the hotel staff.  One middle eastern gentleman who works at the hotel asked about our purpose in going to Romania when we were seeking a meeting room.  He gave us a great rate on the meeting room and asked us to pray for him.  One of the children had a chance to have a spiritual conversation with a man on the way to the hotel last night.  The Lord is opening some cool doors.

Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 that the first and greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  I want to speak today about this aspect of loving God with our minds, focusing on what it means to pray with our minds.  The topic I’ve chosen is based on one verse in 1 Chronicles chapter 12.

“men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32)

Before we look more closely at that one verse, let’s glance quickly back at 1 Chronicles chapter 11.  If you have editor’s sub-titles in your Bible, you’ll see that most of that chapter is devoted to the exploits of David’s mighty men.  Now flip over to 1 Chronicles chapter 12.  The first half of the chapter concerns warriors who joined David.  A warrior is an experienced soldier, someone who has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness.  In the NIV, the second half of the chapter, which includes our key verse, is simply titled, “others join David at Hebron.”  These were a mixture of various kinds of people who were needed to do “as the LORD had said.”  Verse 22 says this:

“Day after day men came to help David, until he had a great army, like the army of God.” (1 Chronicles 12:22)

God brought about his purposes, not all in one day, but gradually, day after day.  He did use some warriors, but mostly He used ordinary people who came day after day.  God established His Kingdom so that it would last, and therefore, just like the best and tastiest fruits, it ripened slowly.

Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan wrote that “Every word of this chapter carries the mind on to great David’s greater Son, and the men He gathers about Him.”  It’s easy for us to read about David’s Kingdom and forget that the Kingdom of God that we speak of today is a continuation of the very same kingdom!

There are key lessons we can learn from the “men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.”

To pull this verse apart, I ask 4 big questions.

Question #1: What are the times?

Answer:

• Past
  • What have others in similar circumstances done before?  There is a body of both wisdom and knowledge that has been accumulated before we ever came along.  Of course our primary source is and always should be the Bible.  But there are important lessons to be learned from secondary sources.  It has been said that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us.  We don’t need to reinvent the wheel in every situation.  We see this so clearly in areas like science, gardening, and learning a foreign language.  It’s harder to accept when it comes to something with a much more personal application, like how to live for God!
  • Santayana’s Law of Repetitive Consequences – “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
• Present / Future – Physical
  • There are three areas concerning present & future times, in the physical realm, that we can look at to know how to pray with understanding.
  • 1 – Public affairs
    • Research, study, analysis
    • Those of us with a bent towards prayer may not inherently value these practical approaches, but this is vital when it comes to praying with our minds.  We need to research, study, and analyze our culture so that we can pray intelligently.  Example: I recently read that in this calendar year, stepfamilies are expected to outnumber all other types of families in the U.S.  Keeping this knowledge in mind, we can pray more specifically for families in our community.
  • 2 – Check the pulse
    • We check pulses in order to see how well the heart is working.  A pulse check can be done routinely or in case of an emergency.  Checking a pulse can help locate the cause of symptoms, find blockages, assess how well medicines are working, investigate diseases, and evaluate general health and fitness.
    • In prayer, checking the pulse of a nation or group or individual means focusing on how well the heart is doing.  Sometimes we will be praying during a time of emergency, and other times it will be part of our regular habit of lifting people up in prayer.  We can pray for God to heal the places that are blocked, that are causing unhealthy symptoms to surface.  It is vital in prayer that we use our minds to pay attention to what God shows us.  Praying with understanding involves using discernment to pray for the areas God highlights – He will likely show us target areas to pray for, instead of having us pray for each individual cell in the body by name.
    • Example: Instead of just absorbing whatever the news editors tell us is “headline news” we can take the pulse of the nation by seeing and listening with discernment.  We desperately need God’s gift of discernment to sift through the enormous amounts of information junk that is dished out every minute of the day.
  • 3 – Direction of present events
    • Ability to recognize “slippery slopes” & “red herrings”, examining priorities, realizing that the good is the enemy of the best
    • As with anything, it is so easy to just pray from crisis to crisis.  We can spend all our time on the urgent and overlook the important.  Again, we need sharp and clear vision and hearing to recognize not only what’s going on, but in what direction we’re headed.  A small decision today in our culture can have huge ramifications tomorrow, but we need to pay attention to notice these!  Even recent history is full of examples of this – abortion, euthanasia, homosexual rights, etc.  Who would have thought 100 years ago that today we’d have judges arguing about the definition of the word “family”?  We desperately need to pray with understanding of the times, because we can see only so far down the road – we need God’s wisdom & revelation to see the real direction in which we’re headed.
• Present / Future – Spiritual
  • Amos 3:7 – “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”
  • It’s beautiful to realize that when God is about to do something special on the earth, He knows how to give the secret of it to His people.  God is always working, both externally in the affairs of the world, and internally in the hearts of His people.  Even while Saul was still alive, God stirred and moved the hearts of the people of Israel towards David.
  • How many of us have felt, more than in a fleeting way, more frequently than we realize, what I like to call “glimpses of eternity” . . . it’s that realization that the Kingdom of God is at hand, it’s very near . . . it feels somewhat like subliminal frames in a movie that pop up more and more often.  It affects our souls, not with just fleshly excitement, not panicking because the end is near, not by foolishly fixing a date only to be disappointed or maybe losing faith, but by calmly resting on God’s word.  Ten years ago or one year ago we didn’t think as much or as often of the verses that speak of Jesus’ coming, but now we do.  This growing awareness of the nearness of consummation of the end of the age can’t happen without the Spirit of God.  These glimpses of eternity stir us to pray with understanding that the time is short.  Each day that clicks by is one day closer to being face to face with our Savior.  Understanding this really helps me to pray with passion and fervor.

Question #2: What kind of people understand the times?

Answer:

I counted more than 330,000 men listed in this part of 1 Chronicles 12, with the men of Issachar comprising the smallest group by far, a mere 200 men.  Yet they were given a special mention along with much larger groups.  This tiny group influenced not only their own tribe but the entire nation.  It says that all their relatives were under their command – the rest of their tribe had full confidence in them.  Nothing was done without their direction and advice, because they understood the times and knew what Israel should do.  This kind of influence doesn’t just materialize out of thin air – it is earned.  They didn’t become people of influence by whining, complaining, or grumbling, or by being controlling, manipulative, or demanding.  What kind of people were they?

• People with wisdom
  • Proverbs 4:7 – “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”
  • The men of Issachar knew what to do.  The word “to know” in the Hebrew is yada`  (yaw-dah’) – to know something in the Hebrew meant at least four different kinds of knowing:
    • Figuratively
      • Symbolically, with illustrations, poetry
      • Knowing how to pray means using discernment.
    • Literally
      • True to fact, not exaggerated, accurate
      • Knowing how to pray means having integrity.
    • Euphemistically
      • These sons of Issachar were men who supported King Saul up until the right time, and at the right time gave their support to David.  They knew how to communicate in an appropriate way to each person.  This speaks of the use of metaphors, politeness, indirect speech . . . I want to sharply contrast this with our American obsession with political correctness.  Knowing how to pray means praying appropriately for each person or group, not in order to avoid overstepping the bounds of political correctness or swing in the other extreme and blurt out whatever comes to mind at the moment it comes to mind, but because we’re paying attention to what God is showing us to be the keys to reach that person or group, and His timing.
    • Inferentially
      • Use of reason, deduction
      • Knowing how to pray means praying with reason.  Sometimes praying one thing leads to praying for another, because God made our minds with order and connection.
• People with skill
  • Get training!  We get training for everything else .  . . most jobs require periodic training and / or study . . . so it is with things of God . . . I want to put in a plug here for two modes of study – personal study – read the Bible daily, read the classics of the faith, and group study – come to classes!
  • Jewish writers say that the people of Issachar were renowned for their acquirements in astronomical and physical science; some commentators note that the remark about the men of Issachar could well have been intended to show that there was unity between the intelligent & learned classes and the military
  • They were men of great skill above any of their neighbors, men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do. They understood:
    • the natural times – they could read the weather; they could advise people on the proper times for plowing, sowing, and reaping.  We can all grow in our understanding of the issues of our day.  Go with the topics that interest you – God wired you a certain way – I often read books on apologetics because that lights my fire and God seems to bring me people with whom to have those kinds of interactions.
    • the ceremonial times, the times appointed for the solemn feasts.  In that time period, they didn’t have almanacs or e-alerts – those who understood the times would call people together at the proper times to worship God in the prescribed way.  It is so important to pray in unity with the body of Christ – a great example of this is the “Seek God for the City” booklet many of us used in the period leading up to Palm Sunday.  It’s good to understand and join in prayer with what God is doing in our city, nation, and world.
    • the political times; they understood public affairs, the temper of the nation, and where current events were headed.  In the book of Esther, King Xerxes’ advisers were also called men who understood the times.  The men of Issachar who understood the times had political intelligence and made a good use of it.  It helps me to have some help interpreting the political affairs of our day.  We don’t need to know every detail – there’s simply too much information – but we can pray with understanding about the times we are living in.
    • what Israel ought to do: from their observation and experience they learned both their own and others’ duty and interest. In this critical juncture they knew Israel ought to make David king.  They were not necessarily active in public affairs, but were observant by-standers.  The perspective of standing on the sidelines allows you to see things that someone on the field is not able to see.
• People with experience
  • There is a certain kind of understanding gained only by long experience, not only by skill.  There’s a difference in the level of understanding of a doctor who graduated last week summa cum laude and one with 20 years experience in his or her specialty.  I know who’d I’d rather receive treatment from!
  • We can learn a lot from just hanging around people with experience – those who have walked in the Lord for many years seem to rub off on us.  I learned how to pray largely from hanging around people who loved to pray and had a lot of experience in praying alone and with others.

Question #3: What does it mean to understand the times?

Answer:

• 3 things stood out to me as I thought about this
• 1 – Focus
  • The men of Issachar were people who were focused on what God wanted them to do
  • 2 Timothy 2:3 – 7 – “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.  Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.  The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.  Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.”
  • We need to know what our prayer assignment is.  The needs are endless – we will only wear ourselves out and accomplish very little if we try to do it all.  We need focus, both individually and together in the church.  I like how Nancy sends our prayer focuses in her weekly emails.  Teresa comes prepared with something on which to focus our prayers each week.  Marc does the same in the prayer group at his home that we attend.  A focused beam of light is powerful.
• 2 – Urgency
  • People who understand the times are people who realize that the days are short
  • Matthew 24:22 – “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”
  • Revelation 22:20 – “He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
• 3 – Unity
  • The list of people from each tribe who joined David at Hebron shows us the diversity and special qualities for each.  Each one had a specific place in the king’s army.  It reminds us of what is said about the body of Christ in Romans 12. “These members do not all have the same function”; all have “different gifts”; they must use them according to the grace God has given them and in proportion to their faith.  God’s army can work together for a common purpose, each exercising the function entrusted to him.  This is unity – not sameness, but working together.
  • I thought about lasers when I thought about praying with focus, urgency, and unity.  Listen to this definition of a laser – A laser emits a thin, intense beam of nearly monochromatic visible or infrared light that can travel long distances without diffusing. Most light beams consist of many waves traveling in roughly the same direction, but the phases and polarizations of each individual wave (or photon) are randomly distributed. In laser light, the waves are all precisely in step, or in phase, with each other, and have the same polarization. Such light is called coherent.  Did you hear my emphases – without focus, it’s like praying randomly with our prayers diffusing in many different directions.  With focus, we are praying in step with one another, and our coherent prayers rise to the Father with intensity and endurance.  Praying focused prayers in unity is powerful!

Question #4: How can we know what God’s people should do?

Answer:

• I want to highlight 3 important principles in prayer.
• The whole counsel of Scripture
  • See what God has to say in His Word
  • no “proof-texting”
  • no taking verses out of context
  • consider themes, the “big picture”
  • silly example that my kids love to quote to show the stupidity of pulling verses out of context – Psalm 14:1 portion says, “there is no God”  The entire sentence says:
    • ¹ The fool says in his heart,
             “There is no God.”
  • Francis Schaeffer – “One should realize that the Bible is exceedingly rich, and often the full truth of what the Bible teaches is not to be found and enjoyed in merely choosing a verse here and there.  It is extremely important to see what the Bible says in the balance of its total teaching.”
• Balance of wisdom and revelation
  • Paul prayed for the Ephesians in Eph 1:17 that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”  We need both God’s wisdom and His revelation.  The purpose is not just to be super wise and prophetic, but so that we may know Him better.
• Multitude of counselors
  • The New Testament is full of pronouns, and many of them are plural.  We need a deeper understanding of what it means to be the body of Christ, not a bunch of individuals who live near one another.  Even our key verse in 1 Chronicles 12:32 speaks of “Israel” and “their” – God gave understanding to the group so that as a people they would know what to do.
  • Proverbs 24:6:
    • ⁶ for waging war you need guidance,
             and for victory many advisers.
  • I believe we need to learn how to hear God corporately, how to receive His guidance, wisdom, and direction together, so that we together will know what to do.  As I love to say, prayer is a team sport!

Summary

Life is frequently full of difficult situations – in our personal lives, our families, our church, our community, our nation, the world.  We desperately need an understanding of the times, so that we will know what to do.  We need wisdom, skill, and experience.  We need Holy Spirit discernment, because times change and we can’t presume to simply do what has been done before.  Like the men from each tribe who joined David’s army, we need focus, urgency, and unity.  It was a matter of life and death for David – a lack in any one of these areas would have had fatal consequences. God’s people needed a clear direction and purpose.  They needed to act quickly and decisively.  They needed to be of one heart and mind.  The men of Issachar spoke up strategically at the right time, and acted according to God’s purpose to unify the tribes that had been scattered, for a single-minded purpose.  Paul writes in Romans 13:11 that we also are to “do this [love one another], understanding the present time.”  He exhorts us to wake up, put aside deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light, clothing ourselves with Jesus Christ.  God has given the body of Christ a gift of being able to understand the times.  May we apply this understanding to our prayers, and pray with our spirits, hearts, souls, and minds.

Practical application:

(current situation in the church . . . Youth / kids / worship)

Atlanta Vineyard Church Topical Prayer Class – Sunday, April 25^th, 2010

Karen Sculley – “Praying with understanding of the times”

“. . . men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32)

1. What are the times?
   1. Past
   1. Present / Future – Physical
   1. Present / Future – Spiritual

• What kind of people understand the times?
  • People with wisdom
  • People with skill
  • People with experience

• What does it mean to understand the times?
  • Focus
  • Urgency
  • Unity

• How can we know what God’s people should do?
  • The whole counsel of Scripture
  • Balance of wisdom and revelation
  • Multitude of counselors

Practical application