A Day of Prayer and Fasting
By Josh Rieger
Today the EPCEW and IPC have called their congregations to prayer and fasting.
Why do we pray and fast as a church when situations of extremis strike?
Well, there are three reasons.
First
All tragedy illness, warfare, pestilence, natural disaster is a result of sin. As God cursed Adam for his sin in Gen. 3:17, he said “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life”. There no evil thing we face that is not as a result of sin and its presence in and effect on the world. What’s more, when the church and the world fall into periods of gross ungodliness there are judgments from God as a result of that sin (see Lev. 26, the last chapters of Deuteronomy, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, etc…). We are facing a worldwide pandemic. There are people around the world and around our nation who are gravely ill. Some of them will have long-lasting effects of their illness. There are those who are dying. Our government is having to take extreme measures for our safety. There is no doubt this is a result of sin, generally. There is also no doubt that we have much sin to confess specifically. The church has disrespected God’s law in many ways and gone after the idols of money, entertainment and their own lusts. The world has rejected God’s dominion and sovereignty, denied His existence, flouted his law. The Lord God of Israel, the Creator and Redeemer will not be mocked! Let us confess our sins. Let us turn to Him.
Second
In light of the first reason for prayer, the Lord our God is a merciful God and gracious. He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness and he relents over disaster (Joel 2:13). I quote Joel, but this is God’s most consistent description of himself in the Old Testament. We hear people speak of the Old Testament God as an angry and mean God, a God of wrath and vengeance, but this is not how He describes himself to us. He forbears, He is long-suffering, He gives chance after chance, and even when judgment comes, He relents from it when we repent. His grace and mercy are boundless. This is why the apostle John points us to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross as the greatest display of God’s glory in history. There is no other place that God’s grace and mercy, his abounding steadfast love and faithfulness, and his relenting from judgment are more prominently displayed than the cross. So, in light of our first reason for prayer, where else would we go? We must go to this merciful and gracious God in Christ, His only Son, and seek mercy.
Third
God ordains whatsoever comes to pass; He creates and sustains; He is mighty to save. All that we face He can overcome. He is Almighty God, El Shaddai. There is no hope but God. He “is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). This is a simple reason, but powerful - “The LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear” (Is. 59:1).
So then, how do we pray?
Well, we need to bring God our temporal and our spiritual needs.
We must humble ourselves before Him as creatures before the Creator and Sustainer, and confess our sins.
We must pray that God would stem the tide of this epidemic.
We must pray that God would protect and save lives.
We must pray for Her Majesty, the Queen, for her family and for Her Majesty’s Government. Pray that they would rule in wisdom and that their efforts to contain this virus, “flatten the curve”, protect life, and ensure the lines of provision for us are open would be blessed and providentially sustained.
We must pray for the Church of God in Christ. Pray that she would humble herself before God. That she would be revived and reformed and clothed in the beauty of righteousness. Pray that her testimony and proclamation would be clear and steadfast, and that it would be given wings.
We must pray for the lost. God has ordained this moment. He has ordained our social distance and isolation. And he has given us the virtual means to continue to evangelise and reach the lost in a way we could not have done in a previous generation. He has still given us ways we can serve and love our neighbours. We might lament the fact that we cannot meet publicly, but we need to lean into this and take advantage of the moment. Pray that the church would not be slack in her efforts to reach the lost during this time and pray that God would amplify our every effort. That He would soften hearts, bring the gospel before sinners, and turn their hearts to Him. Pray that our church services would be doubled, or trebled in size when we return from this pandemic, that this nation would turn to God in repentance and belief. Remember, He “is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think”.
