J.I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom have just published a book with InterVarsity Press called Praying: Finding Our Way Through Duty to Delight. The book is based on a series of taped lectures on prayer given by Dr. Packer, which Ms. Nystrom then developed into a transcript, which the two later developed.
The authors describe their book as a “heart-to-heart affair in which two Christians who try to pray and wish they prayed better share thoughts about what they are doing with people whom they envisage as being like themselves.” I resonate with the struggle in prayer that they describe: “Thoughts wander, hearts that ardently longed to be praying freeze once we start, and we dry up. We thought we knew what we had to say to God, but our minds lose focus as soon as we start to say it, our muddle reduces us to stumbling, using words that do not express our meaning, and finally our muddle descends into silence.”
Packer and Nystrom assert that good praying is both duty and delight, but we often must begin with duty. As we grow in the practice of prayer, God causes what begins as duty to blossom into delight.
Chapter 1 is entitled “The God We Pray To.” The chapter discusses the benefits of setting a regular time for prayer (like a husband and wife setting a regular time to talk about the day), but caution that routine prayer “always brings the danger that the routine itself will become the goal and, once fulfilled, will become a source of false well-being.” The authors proceed to meditate on the nature of God. They note that God is personal, plural, perfect, powerful, purposeful, a promise-keeper, paternal, and praiseworthy. The authors aim not just to come alongside us in our struggles with prayer, but to move us to greater delight in prayer by pointing us to a clearer understanding of God and His character. Key quote:
“In this book we contend that the key to heartfelt, meaningful, enriching realism in our prayers is threefold: clear realization of the reality of God, continual practice of the presence of God, and constant endeavor to please God every day of our lives.”
Other chapters deal with different types of prayer: Brooding (chap 3) , Praising (chap 4), Asking (chap 6), Complaining (chap 7), and Hanging On (Chap 8).
Praying: Finding Our Way Through Duty to Delight reads with an accessible tone/style. The topic is certainly relevant. The wisdom, wit, and pastoral warmth of Packer’s other works (such as Knowing God) comes through in this work as well.
(Editorial blog note: I classify this as an introduction to a book, not an exhaustive review.)