All those who behave wickedly do not understand – those who devour my people as if they were eating bread, and do not call out to the Lord. Psalm 14:4 NET

We think of failing to prayer, of calling out to the Lord, as an oversight. A slip-up. One of those items we didn’t check off our list. Important, sure, but like a lot of other things we didn’t get around to doing today.

But tomorrow we’ll make time for it. So we tell ourselves. So we lie to ourselves. So we justify ourselves to God.

The Lord looks down from heaven to see if anyone is seeking him. How he must be disappointed over and over again!

To God, not praying is part of the extreme evil of his people. None righteous. They rip off their fellow Christians. They’re practical atheists. They don’t even pray! (Read verse 1-3.)

Failure to pray is evil, for without prayer we attempt to do things on our own power.

Without prayer, we seek our own way.

Without prayer, we are the gods of our own lives, the very idols we have set up to worship.

Without prayer, we attempt the change we want to see in ourselves and our world.

Without prayer, we are lost, weak, without direction, without power, without understanding.

Without prayer, we are evil to the core.

What’s your prayer today?

–J. Randal Matheny @ www.forthright.net