James wrote, "Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray" (James 5:13). You might be thinking, That's not a problem! Doesn't everyone pray when they're in trouble? Not necessarily. A lot of people don't turn to the Lord even in the middle of a great crisis. Federal aviation inspectors say that when they listen to the final words of airline pilots just before a crash, they frequently hear profanity. The very last words recorded on tape and preserved in the black box are often not prayers but curses.
ARE YOU PREPARED TO PRAY WHEN TROUBLE STRIKES?
God expects you to call upon him when you're in trouble. You might say to your children, "If you have any trouble, stop and call me." You want them to rely on you when they're in trouble. Your heavenly Father wants you to rely on him when you're in a crisis. So why don't people instinctively pray when they're in trouble?
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If you don't turn to God when tragedy strikes, it's probably one of two reasons: either you don't believe he can help so you just don't ask (as we discussed in Chapter Three), or you're not in the habit of going to him under normal circumstances, so when the pressure is on, you revert back to old habits.
REVERTING TO OLD HABITS
When faced with severe trouble people instinctively revert back to lifelong habits. That's why the recording caught the pilots cursing God instead of praying to him. That was their habit. Whether or not you pray in times of trouble will depend upon your daily routine. If you are not going to God on a daily basis for strength and guidance, it's not likely you will turn to him in a crisis. Like those pilots, you will revert to your habits when trouble strikes. If your routine is more characterized by cursing than praying, you'll be more likely to curse God than to pray to him even in the darkest hour.
A good basketball player will practice free throws over and over, shooting them exactly the same way. He hopes that he will develop such good habits that when the pressure is on, he can still perform correctly. He knows that in stressful situations, the body responds as it has been trained to respond. So does the mind and the spirit.
Luke 22:44 describes Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane just hours before the crucifixion: "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." In his darkest hour, he prayed. His prayer may have been more intense than normal, but it was natural for him to turn to his Father for help because that's what he was used to doing. The Bible says that during his busy days when the crowds were following him and everything was going well, "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16).
When our children were toddlers we developed a habit of reading a Bible story to them and praying with them before they went to sleep. We faithfully went through that routine every night. Sometimes it seemed like we were just going through the motions, but it was an acknowledgement that God was real to us and that prayer was a vital part of every day. When they grew older, we continued the habit, usually sitting down at the kitchen table late in the evening for a few minutes before they went off to bed. One of us would read a section of Scripture and then both boys would take turns praying aloud.