“Knowing Christ is the best thing that has ever happened to me, although winning the US Open was a pretty good second.”
The sin of not praying again
Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you! 1 Samuel 12:23The context is a conversation between the people of Israel and the prophet, Samuel. The people are aware of their shortcomings, failures and sins – including the sin of asking for a king. They ask their spiritual leader, Samuel to pray for them. In Verse 19 we read: “The people all said to Samuel: ‘Pray to the LORD your God for your servants that we will not die’”.
Samuel tells the people to turn away from their sin and to remain faithful to God and assures them that God will forgive.
Then Samuel adds the words of the verse above. The implication for those of us with a pastoral responsibility for God’s people is the responsibility to pray for them – and that not doing so is a sin of omission.
Prayer is an amazing privilege. In an old hymn, James Montgomery described it as “the Christian’s vital breath”. Let us remember what an amazing privilege we have been given and not sin by failing to pray.