Needed: A National Day of Prayer – Hezekiah Style

It is that time of the year again when our nation sets aside a National Day of Prayer. This practice finds its roots as far back as 1775 when the Continental Congress "designated a time for prayer in forming a new nation." Sprinkled throughout the nation’s history there have been calls for national days of prayer. The formalization of the practice came on April 17, 1952, when a bill proclaiming an annual National Day of Prayer (NDP) was unanimously passed by both houses of congress and President Truman signed it into law. It required the President to select a day for national prayer each year.

Further formalization of the practice occurred on May 5, 1988, when a bill introduced to Congress fixed the annual NDP at the first Thursday in May. The Senate bill, S 1378, was introduced by Strom Thurmond (R-SC); a matching House version was initiated by Tony Hall, (D-OH). With broad bipartisan sponsorship the bill became Public Law 100-307 and was signed into law by President Reagan. Regan noted, "On our National Day of Prayer, then, we join together as people of many faiths to petition God to show us His mercy and His love, to heal our weariness and uphold our hope, that we might live ever mindful of His justice and thankful for His blessing." Lately there has been some resistance developing concerning the NDP because of a secularist view that religious activity should not be a part of our national life – it should remain a purely private matter. Most recently, on April 15, 2010, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb has ruled the NDP was unconstitutional because it is "an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function." The ruling is under appeal.

In the Old Testament, King Hezekiah declared a National Day of Prayer in 2 Kings 19:1-4. He was wise enough to realize that when surrounded by enemy forces his nation needed prayer. The king humbled himself as he “tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went to the house of the Lord for prayer” (19:1). There he simply said, “This is a day of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy… Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left” (19:3, 4). His approach was very different from 21st century practices used to try and gather a crowd to incite some prayer. There were no choirs, concessions, special speakers, tee shirts, prayer breakfasts, Bible reading marathons, and rallies – which appear valuable to secularized Christianity today. The recognition of desperation drove the desire for intercession. Perhaps there needs to be a similar awareness in the hearts and minds of people in our nation today.

There were national days of prayer that occurred spontaneously several years ago. The greater part of the nation, including the judiciary, voiced no opposition. People needed no coaxing to participate. People who had not prayed in years did. People who had not been in churches in years called to see if there was going to be a prayer time. With just hours notice, several hundred from the community gathered in our church for several hours to prayer. The date was September 11, 2001. Two airplanes hijacked by Islamic terrorists, intentionally crashed in the twin towers of the World Trade Center murdering 2,973 people. The nation’s sensibilities for a few months in 2001 were changed. Our country realized how vulnerable our nation was and how dangerous the enemy. In my mind, that was really a National Day of Prayer. People humbled themselves and approached the God of the universe to ask for His intervention in our nation.

Let’s not criticize a National Day of Prayer. Instead, let’s pray that a revival breaks out as our nation’s desperation is realized and we respond by coming to God with humility, confession, and genuine intercession.