Praying for discernment, not just decisions

Ryan Brown Sept. 24, 2024

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I was recently reading with my kids the story in Genesis in which Abraham sends his servant back to the land of his relatives to find a wife for his son Isaac.

As the servant arrived in the town of Nahor, he stopped by the well outside of town and prayed that the Lord's chosen wife for Isaac would be revealed. He prayed that God would use it as a sign if the girl he asked for a drink of water from the well would also offer to get water for his camels—not an easy job when thirsty camels could each consume as much as 30 gallons of water in just a few minutes.

In Genesis 24:15 it says "Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder." Just as the servant had requested of God, Rebekah not only gave him a drink but offered to water the camels, as well. In her offer to water the camels, Rebekah was revealed as the answer to this servant's prayer.

The text specifically states that God's answer to that prayer was revealed before the servant had even finished praying; however, God had begun the process of answering that prayer before the servant had even started to pray.

Since the well was outside of town, it means Rebekah would have had to gather her jar and would have begun her journey with a divine precision in timing well before the servant had even begun to vocalize his request to God.

The servant's prayer was not something that prompted God to begin taking action. The prayer was a tool that allowed the servant to align himself to what God was already planning and had already put in motion.

We all carry mantles of leadership. Whether it be in a setting of ministry, work, or home, we all have responsibilities that necessitate decisions and action. So often we can find ourselves making those decisions and then devoting our prayers to seek God's blessing of those decisions.

What if, rather than turning our first efforts toward decisions, we instead focused our first efforts on discernment? Rather than seeking to decide what we will do, what if we spent more time trying to discern what God was already doing? What if, rather than praying for God's blessings on our decisions, we prayed for wisdom in discerning His plans?

One of the ways I've seen this modeled in such a beautiful fashion is as I've had the opportunity to walk with and learn from our brothers and sisters around the globe who are most persecuted and discriminated against because of their decision to follow Jesus. As I've sought to join them in prayer through the Open Doors prayer guide, I've been humbled by their example.

As they face the realities of daunting persecution, so often their prayer is not for comfort and security or deliverance from persecution. Rather, their prayers are that God's will shall be accomplished through them even as they experience persecution. I've been humbled to meet and hear from brothers and sisters who have recognized how an experience like being imprisoned for their faith opened doors for them to share the Gospel with fellow prisoners in desperate need of hearing the hope of the Gospel. As they've sought and prayed for God's will even in those difficult circumstances, their eyes have been opened to see God's Kingdom expanding even in the darkest and hardest of places.

We know that if we pray according to God's will, it will be accomplished: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him" (1 John 5:14-15).

So if we spent more time trying to understand what God's will might be for a specific situation, and through prayer are willing to see our hearts aligned to that outcome, we just might have the privilege of seeing God's hand move as swiftly and as surely as it did for Abraham's servant.

As leaders committed to prayer, let's remember that God has already been operating and has had plans in motion long before our prayers arrived on the scene. Let's seek to have our prayers be instruments to align our hearts and minds to be able to see what God already has in play.

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Ryan Brown serves Open Doors US as Chief Executive Officer. Learn More »

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