Prayer in the Present Tense

We drove 2,088 miles to be with my parents for Christmas and 1,662 miles to come back home again from my in-laws’ house. 

Driving from the top of the country to the bottom and back again gives my family the opportunity to see varied landscapes, animals, architecture, and people. 

It also expands my prayer life.

Somewhere in the middle of Kentucky, in the middle of a construction zone, in the middle of the night, there was an accident. There was smoke, fire, sirens, blinding lights, and bustling confusion. We couldn’t see the details clearly, but we stared at what we could see for two hours. 

The pavement of the interstate was burned, and no traffic could get past the accident site.

The policemen eventually led us back the way we had come, driving south on the northbound side of the interstate, weaving around orange construction cones, wondering what to do now that the way was blocked. 

The Lord knew when the collision occurred. The Lord was there with the emergency personnel. The Lord soothed my husband’s frustration and my anxiety. The Lord helped my inquisitive seven year old fall peacefully asleep, questions replaced by soft snoring.

How often do I pray in the present tense? I had prayed for safe travel, gazing fearfully into the future of the unknown of cross-country trekking. I had thanked God for the travel that was already in the past, knowing that His presence had been with us.

But now, at a stand-still on the interstate, not sure if I was witnessing the passing of someone else’s loved ones, wondering which route to take next, prayer happened in the present tense.

Perhaps that’s the way God desires our communications to be all the time. After all, He is the “I am,” perpetually the God of the present tense. His character doesn’t allow for the “might have beens” or the “what if’s.” He is “I am,” always present, always ready to be called upon. 

When Abraham’s servant went in search of a wife for Abraham’s son, Isaac, he also prayed in the present tense. “O Lord, behold, I am standing by the spring of water and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water…”

The Lord knew who he was and what he had come for, but the servant still spoke to God as if He was standing beside him right in the moment.

Nehemiah also prayed in the present tense, saying, “O God, strengthen my hands,” even as he resisted his enemies and built the wall around Jerusalem. 

These prayers in the present tense were not too elementary or obvious for the Lord, but were heartfelt pleas from the faithful to the God they know is with them in every moment.

He was with us too as we changed our route and got back up to speed on the highway, and He is with you in this present moment too because He is the I am.