Praying Like My Cat

Prayer isn’t about God listening to us—but about attendant believers getting to know God.

Praying Like My Cat

My cat amazes me. He has an incredible ability to concentrate on just one thing, blocking out all distractions. I’ve spotted him sitting on the window ledge, staring into the house, waiting for someone to walk by the window. Then he’ll submit his request with a meow, and we’ll let him in. Whenever he does this, he lingers in this concentration for as long as it takes to get someone’s attention. He has no concept of time. He simply knows that eventually, someone will come and open the door. So, patiently, he waits.

How would it be if we prayed that way? If we approached God with single-minded determination to hear the divine voice? Instead, when we pray we fill the air with our own words. We like the sound of our voice better than the quiet intonation of God’s in our hearts. We’re more comfortable with what we have to say than we are with what the Spirit wants to say.

Three Keys to Hearing from God

When God spoke to young Samuel, the boy had no idea whose voice it was. He thought it was his teacher Eli calling him. He asked Eli, and the old sage told him how to respond to God. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

When we pray, how would it be if, instead of filling the air with all that we want to say, we simply followed Eli’s advice? “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Can you imagine a more simple prayer? As brief as it is, this invocation does three key things:

1. First, this prayer acknowledges the relationship between servant and Lord. In your prayers, do you monopolize the time? Whoever dominates a conversation usually dominates a relationship. Are you attending to God, or do you expect God to attend to you? Do you try to dominate your own prayer time?
2. Next, this prayer makes a request: “Speak.” We have been taught that praying is talking to God. This is only partly true. The other part of prayer is when we come go God, expecting God to speak to us. Samuel only wanted one thing from God. He didn’t ask God to heal anybody or provide anything or do a miracle. He simply wanted God to speak to his heart. This attitude can radically transform your prayer life—to want to hear from God more than anything else. Is that what you want when you pray?
3. Finally, Samuel told God that he was listening. The truth is that God speaks to us all the time. We don’t hear because we’re usually not listening. We tell God what we want Him to hear, and then we say amen. Taking the time to sit and listen is a challenging discipline to begin, but it offers great rewards.

Oh, to be like my cat—sitting and waiting, watching for the door to open! Oh to have the simplicity of Samuel’s prayer, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Say it once, then sit and listen. Or say it as a mantra—as many times as it takes for you to get beyond your own thoughts and settle into God’s presence. When Samuel discovered this short prayer, it taught him not just how to talk to God, but how to find God’s voice. He learned that prayer isn’t about God listening us—but about attendant believers getting to know God.