Skip to main content

"Just"

This week off between jobs I have had a lot of time to read my Bible, pray, connect with friends and think about things that I haven't had time to think about lately. I have noticed this before, but it came to my mind again as I was praying while driving to run some errands (don't worry, I had my eyes open).

What I kept noticing was that I was praying with the word "just" a lot, but not in any way that made sense (i.e. referring to being "guided by truth, reason, justice, and fairness" or God's "righteousness" as defined by dictionary.com), but rather I was using it as a qualifier of sorts ("exactly or precisely; only or merely" again by dictionary.com). When I say I was using it as a qualifier, I was saying things like, "Lord, would you just protect them" or "would you just be with them" type of stuff. The frustrating thing is I realized what I was saying in the middle and kept stopping and starting my prayers over or backing up to before the word "just" and skipping over it. I started thinking, do I seriously think God's ever not with people who believe in Him? Or do I think God doesn't know they need protecting? Does using "just" actually communicate to God that this is "exactly, precisely and only" the thing I would like to see Him do in so-and-so's life or in such-and-such situation? If I'm really asking for God to be in control of the situation or meet a person in their needs and help them know His love and comfort, why am I putting the word "just" in front of my heart concerns? There's nothing small about those requests and those are good things to pray about. And God can answer those prayers in whatever ways make sense for His good and His glory. But there's seldom one little thing that is the answer, so "just" doesn't make sense to say.

Without going on in circles, I think you get the point, but I do want to summarize my thoughts in regards to praying with the word "just":
*If I'm praising God for being just and for leading me towards being just in my character, that makes sense and is good.
*If I'm bringing concerns or requests to God in prayer, using "just" both communicates limitation to what I think God can/should do possibly and I think it also minimizes the prayer in making it seem very minor or that it can only be solved by my request (which probably is seldom the case).
*If I really do mean to specify one thing or request, "just" can make sense, but I should probably use it more scarcely than I do.

What do you think of "just"? Why is it that so many Christians use it in prayer? Is it a filler word? Do we really mean to limit the things we're praying about? Is it out of anxiety of praying out loud or distraction of multi-tasking while talking to the Lord? Why has it become the norm to use "just" so often in prayer?

Thoughts welcome :)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You're not alone...

We received a little book of bedtime prayers to read to our little guy when we were pregnant, and one of the prayers is titled, "You're never, ever alone." It is a little cheesy and even rhymes, but it teaches that no matter what, no matter where, God is with you. It is so basic, but it's a reminder that I've needed a lot, and so have many of my friends. In the last several months, God has brought me conversations with other women, where God has used me to assure them that they are not alone in various circumstances. One friend was dealing with family and friends who kept telling her "how small" she was in her pregnancy, and some family members even told her to her face that they didn't think she could accomplish a natural childbirth as she desired (for those who did not get comments about being "so small," it often made me feel as though people thought I wasn't eating enough or doing pregnancy well, which this momma was feeling too)....
Post a Comment
Read more

Campus Crusade Update

As the school year is up and running and staff and students are finding their grooves, we continue to wait on the Lord. We have found the last year of raising support to be the source of a lot of growth for us. God has been teaching us so much and helping us to understand that He is in control, which means we don’t have to be. And we can’t be. That has been a very challenging lesson to learn. That being said, we would like to let you know where we are at in raising support and what our situation is at the time. We are currently in a place of great difficulty in making consistent progress on a weekly and monthly basis. Due to the economy, among other factors, we are not raising support at a level with which is projecting a reasonable finish date. Our support coach has helped us to look at our progress objectively, and in the last several months, despite hundreds of phone calls every month, we are having a hard time connecting with people. Taking all of that into con...
1 comment
Read more

Don't Worry About the Small Stuff

.... And most of it is small stuff. Lately I've been thinking about how much other people have the potential to either make you smile or get under your skin. I've recently encountered several situations in which I had been struggling to not let other people completely ruin my experience with something or my attitude about things. Through a lot of processing, I realized that I was trying to micro-manage and control other people's responses, thoughts, actions and words in my own strange way. I was giving them the power to dictate whether or not I enjoy myself and enjoy life. How strange of me! Then I realized that a lot of people tend to do that (although usually subconsciously) and end up being so frustrated by everyone else's junk or bad attitudes that they themselves become junk-carrying crabby people. So I figured, hey, I have enough stuff to carry around on my own. Why on earth would I try to also figure out your issues? (unless of course you ask for help) Plus, ...
1 comment
Read more