Baring Your Soul to God

by David Robinson

Do you remember the silly bumper stickers that said "SURF NAKED"? I saw one again recently. Surely, this person has never been surfing! Surfing is one of the last things you'd want to do naked. But I started thinking about what kind of bumper sticker I would put on my car. Mine would read "PRAY NAKED."

Before you write me off as one who practices kinky religious rituals, let me explain what I mean.

The only true prayer is naked prayer. The greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind." True prayer, then, is to open oneself completely to God, to strip oneself of all masks and pretense, and to come to God naked - naked to the heart. Calvin Miller captures this well in his book The Singer (IVP): "To God obscenity is not uncovered flesh. It is exposed [evil] intention. Nakedness is just a state of heart."

The ideal state of human life as expressed in the Bible is one of complete nakedness and openness without shame. "The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame" (Genesis 2:25). The first thing Adam and Eve did after their disobedience was to hide themselves from each other and from God.

Cover-ups

We are no different today. We spend a lot of energy each day hiding ourselves from others and from God so they won't see us as we really are in all our hurt, weakness and shame. Most of us have plenty of dirty laundry inside - sins and struggles which we keep hidden away, hoping nobody will see. And most of us seldom truly open up to anyone, especially not to God! This act of undressing, becoming naked and vulnerable in our hearts, is what the Bible calls confession.

There is a powerful statement made in the book of James about this kind of undressing. "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed" (James 5:16). How much sickness in our lives would be removed by God's healing grace if we truly opened ourselves up to one another, and became vulnerable in prayer with each other before our God.

But we would rather be actors on the stage, playing out roles of "Got-It-All-Together," "No-Problem," and "I'm-Beautiful." We play this tragic-comical drama decked out in full costume. Nice clothes, make-up, being polite, performing religious duties, tradition, reputation, status, busy schedules and a host of other garments help us cover up our shame, fear, insecurity. They help us feel like we're safe, as if everything is fine.

Pray From the Heart

Our God is not fooled. "O LORD, you have searched me and you know me . . . You are familiar with all my ways" (Psalm 139:1,3). God sees right through our clothes and our hypocrisy. "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). What God is really looking for is honesty and genuineness at the core of our being.

How caught up we are in all the external trappings of being religious and looking good. Like the Pharisee in the temple, we make sure we've done everything on the check list of good works. And without realizing it, we can use prayer as a subtle means of justifying ourselves before God.

The prayer of the publican was a simple naked cry of the heart. This man, fully aware of his great need for help, beat his breast and cried out, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13). Thomas Merton, a trappist monk, wrote just before he died, "We must stand naked and defenseless before God" (The Jesus Prayer for Modern Pilgrims, Performance Press). Only then will we, like the publican, go home "justified before God."

I mouthed many, many "prayers" as a kid. But my very first true prayer came at the age of 18, when I realized how empty my life was, and how much I needed God. It went like this: "God, I don't believe in you, but if you're really there, then show yourself to me." Gut-level honesty. With tears filling my eyes, for the first time in my life, I was getting naked before the living, loving God of the universe. "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart," says the Lord (Jeremiah 29:13).

Praying Naked

Jesus warned us against people who practice hypocritical religion and said, "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6:6).

It isn't a bad idea to take this literally. Of course, true prayer is something we can do anywhere, anytime, regardless of place or posture. But place and posture can be great helpers in entering more fully into the wonderful presence of our Lord.

Why not make it a habit of praying every time you take a shower or a bath? As you undress, also strip yourself of all those clothes inside your heart which keep you from true fellowship with Jesus. Allow your physical nakedness to call you into the heart-nakedness of genuine prayer. Then ask God to wash away your sins, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Finish your bathing with a hymn or a song of praise to God for clothing you in his goodness and mercy.

These "naked prayers" in the bathroom could become the most moving and life-changing times of prayer you'll ever have.

Praying the Psalms

Another great help in learning to "pray naked" is daily praying the Psalms. For the past several years, I have been committed to praying five Psalms each day. I seek to pray through every thirtieth Psalm, according to the day of the month. On the first of each month I pray through Psalms 1, 31, 61, 91 and 121. On the second, in pray through Psalms 2, 32, 62, 92 and 122; and so on through the month. I save Psalm 119 for the those months that have 31 days, and pray that Psalm only on the 31st.

The language of the Psalms is very often "naked language," that is, straight from the depths of the heart. When we take these cries of anger, praise, thanks and despair and make them our own prayers of faith, God uses them to instruct us how to be more honest with him from the hidden places of our own hearts. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who died in a Nazi concentration camp, wrote in his classic book Life Together about the great benefit of praying the Psalms. "The more deeply we grow in the Psalms, and the more often we pray them as our own, the more simple and rich will our prayer become." For a person such as myself, who has a difficult time being in touch with my emotions, the Psalms have indeed been a great school of prayer in learning to "pray naked."

By the Grace of God

Once we enter again into the fast-paced masquerade of our daily routine, we often can't find the time or the courage to "pray naked." We need God's help. Prayer is a gracious gift from God rather than a natural human event, and it isn't easy. Henri Nouwen, in his collection of prayers titled, A Cry for Mercy (Doubleday & Co.), offers this beautiful prayer:

Take away the many fears, suspicions, and doubts by which I prevent you from being my Lord, and give me the courage and freedom to appear naked and vulnerable in the light of your presence, confident in your unfathomable mercy.

Our God truly enjoys quality time with us his people. He loves nothing more than to see us let down our guard, open up our hearts and enter into true, intimate fellowship with him. Only then is he able to pour into our lives the fullness of his life and love as promised in his Word.

The next time you see a car on campus with a bumper sticker that reads "PRAY NAKED," don't be alarmed. Instead, remember to take some time for true prayer, to bare your heart and soul before the God who clothes you in his love, holiness and grace.

David Robinson is a campus pastor with the Presbyterian Student Fellowship at Middle Tennessee State U. in Murfreesboro.

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this article for educational purposes provided this permission notice, and the copyright notice below are preserved on all copies. Not to be reprinted in any other publication without permission. © 1994 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. All rights reserved. This article first appeared in the Winter 1994 issue of Student Leadership Journal®.

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Baring Your Soul to God

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December 27-31, 2009