If you don’t know how to pray, getting started can feel strange. So, check out this simple prayer to help you grow in your prayer life, and connect with God today! 

I Don’t Understand All of the Bible

Wrath. Judgment. Fiery furnaces. Scary imagery. Destruction and death. The Bible is FULL of really hard passages to read, especially when those passages make God seem like an egomaniac or someone who plays favorites. There are, of course, ways to contort these passages to try to make us feel better, but typically that requires a little looseness with the text. Even if we can argue away some of them, there are always one or two verses that just don’t let us force them to say what we want them to say. So, what do we do when we’re troubled by a passage of Scripture? 

We go back to what we know for sure to be true about God with this prayer. Try it out…

“The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and rich in love. 

The Lord is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made” (Psalm 145:8-9).

A Prayer for Reading Hard Bible Passages

Holy God, you are the very essence of all that is right and good. You are love. You are compassion and kindness. You are slow to anger and quick to forgive. I don’t know what to do with this passage of Scripture because it seems to paint the opposite picture of who I know you to be. Meet me in my questions, doubts, and struggles. Help me to not gloss over this or try to make it say something it doesn’t. May your Spirit meet my troubled spirit and bring peace and faith to trust you, knowing that at the end of time, you’ll do what is best for the world, for all people, and for your glory. Amen. 

 

The role of prayer in Christian life is powerful and helps us in our mission to creatively explore how we connect with God in the ordinary, extraordinary, everyday moments of life. For more everyday prayers, visit this page!