A prayer bee?

March 2, 2007

By William E. Richardson

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14, NKJV).

Could you define the word collywobbles? Last year when I heard the word, a definition popped into my head. Not the correct one, however. “It’s a description of the heroic dog, Lassie, after eating so much she can’t walk straight — collie-wobbles.”

The real definition: a severe stomachache. Collywobbles and a plethora of other words were being used to eliminate all but the very best word whiz at a state spelling bee. What fun I had watching. And listening.

When a participant misspelled a word, everyone knew it. A bell dinged, the correct spelling was given, and the less-than-perfect speller left the stage.

A person’s spelling had to be, to use a word that stumped one contestant, impeccable. But when it came to mistakes, all but one of the spellers were eventually, according to another word that eliminated someone, susceptible.

What a relief God doesn’t judge our prayers that severely. If our grammar or phrasing isn’t perfect, God doesn’t ring a bell for everyone to know. The most educated and the least educated can pray to God. Flowery language doesn’t impress God. Lack of eloquence doesn’t offend Him.

What if we pray a theological error? God doesn’t gasp and stamp the flawed prayer as “denied” with a roll of thunder. He doesn’t even give us the collywobbles. God knows how to sort out what we say from what we mean.

Talking to God isn’t a prayer bee. The Bible tells us God’s ears are tuned to the prayers of His followers (Psalm 34:15; John 9:31). That’s all of His followers, all the time. Baby Christians learning to pray as well as mature believers who’ve uttered thousands of requests.

According to the Bible, God listens to the prayer in one’s heart. In Psalm 19:14, David prayed for God to accept his spoken words, but prayed equally for God to accept the thoughts of his heart.

Better yet, God works beyond our thoughts. Paul reminds us God can “do exceedingly abundantly above all that we may ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). I’m glad He’s not limited by our imperfect verbal pleas. Regardless of the worded content of our prayers, God knows their intent. He knows our hearts. And He knows His intentions for us.

Spelling bees can be fun to watch and hear. But prayer bees don’t exist. We can go to God in prayer at any time, calling on Him without embellishment and without fear of saying the wrong thing. Every Christian should always be ready to “let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

William E. Richardson is senior pastor of Afton (Iowa) Assembly of God.