In the Circle With Honi

Monday, September 10, 2012 Posted by Unknown

I'm fresh off the heels of a horrible few weeks, during which I was certain the Lord was piling my prayers in His "things I might get to later" file. I mean even the small prayers that were absolutely nothing for Him to handle, seemed to be bouncing off the ceiling right into the trash can. It was absolutely no fun.

I was thinking about it the other day when I remembered that sometimes prayers require a little something more. Sometimes it's patience, sometimes it's perseverance, and sometimes it's just shutting up. I'm not sure exactly what I was missing, but when I whined about it to the Lord, he reminded me of a 1st century saint named Honi.

I first encountered Honi in Mark Batterson's book, The Circle Maker. In fact, Honi is known as the "Circle Maker." His people were facing a devastating drought and Honi's response was to draw a circle and kneel down in the center. He began to pray for rain and refused to leave the circle until He received the provision he was waiting for. He wasn't satisfied with a drizzle (though his people were), but continued to push in prayer until there was a torrential downpour.

I'd love to sit with Honi for a primer on praying. I gotta say that I'd have likely stopped when it began to sprinkle (if I would have stayed in the circle even that long). I'm sure Honi's calendar will be full when I get to Heaven, but I hope I'll have the patience to wait in his line. He definitely knows a little something about pushing in prayer. Something I'm so ready to really learn.