Prayer: Not Only for Crisis Management

Players and coaches kneel in prayer for their injured teammate.

Last week sports fans across the nation hit their collective pause button as they watched emergency personnel frantically working on Damar Hamlin, an athlete seriously injured in an NFL game. Stunned commentators could only manage words like “scary” and “chilling” and “frightening” as they observed EMTs and physicians on the field attending to the stricken Buffalo Bills defensive back.

Most of the time in football when a player’s hurt, timeout is called, the telecast goes to commercial, and then the game comes back on and play resumes. The injured player has either walked off the field under his own power, been assisted by trainers or teammates, or taken by golf cart to the locker room for treatment. Not this time.

 

When any athlete at any level suffers injury, an ambulance isn’t expected to be driven onto the field. Especially not to remain for a prolonged time. So, the scene was at once surreal, chilling, and scary. Football players and coaches, engaged in a sport some regard as the modern equivalent of the ancient gladiators, weren’t looking mean and tough. Many were in tears, hugging and consoling one another, and kneeling in solemn and silent prayer for Hamlin.

 

This unaccustomed scene was distressing, and we do continue to pray for Hamlin’s recovery. In one respect, however, what we saw was also heartening. For the last few of years, football players and other pro athletes had taken part in the controversial “taking a knee” to protest perceived injustices in our country. This time, those kneeling weren’t protesting – they were praying.

 

There’s something about major crises, especially ones of a life-and-death nature, that motivates people to pray. Just as they say, “there are no atheists in foxholes,” times of crisis have a way of dismissing atheistic thoughts, if only temporarily. When all else fails, pray.

 

Even the game commentators, struggling to find words, spoke repeatedly about praying for the young man and his family. Whether they did so from faith conviction or not didn’t matter. They were tacitly acknowledging that in moments when all seems beyond our control, we hope and want to believe Someone greater than us indeed is in control and fully capable of doing what we cannot.

 

The following morning one commentator, Dan Orlovsky, a former pro football player himself, went beyond the “thoughts and prayers” for Hamlin. He actually bowed his head, closed his eyes and prayed aloud as his colleagues listened on with reverent respect. Subsequent social media posts gave him kudos almost unanimously.

 

I think back to the “flare prayers” I offered up during my college days, when I faced comparatively minor crises that seemed overpowering. I suddenly became devout when a difficult exam was looming or my personal life wasn’t progressing to my liking. Those prayers – feeble as they were – got answered, often in better ways than I could have dreamed.

 

We’re to pray earnestly in times of need. The Bible makes this clear. For instance, Philippians 4:6-7 admonishes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” However, God never intended for prayer to be used only a tool for crisis management.

 

I’ve lost count of the times prayer has provided comfort, hope and reassurance for our family: financial struggles, impending heart surgery, a cancer diagnosis, newborns in neonatal intensive care, career uncertainties. However, prayer ought to be our first recourse, not our last. We should pray when times are good, as well as when they’ve taken a bad turn.

 

The first Bible verse I ever intentionally memorized, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, tells us to, “pray without ceasing.” That means we can do it anywhere, at any time, no matter what we’re doing. I’ve often prayed while driving – with eyes open, of course. I’ve prayed many times during work meetings or difficult conversations, asking for God’s wisdom, direction, and even what to say (and not say).

 

Jesus Christ taught that when we pray, it’s not a matter of the right words or how many words we utter or offer silently. And we’re not to pray for the specific purpose of drawing attention to ourselves. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others…” (Mathew 6:5).

 

Prayer, at its essence, is a very personal communication between us as individuals and God, sometimes expressing thankfulness for food and a roof over our heads; other times offering praise for a spectacular sunrise or sunset; and yes, making an urgent plea when overwhelming circumstances occur.

 

Since I write these posts days in advance of their publication, I don’t know what Damar Hamlin’s condition will be when you read this. He and his family deserve our continued prayers. But I’m heartened by the image of players and coaches kneeling in prayer, asking the God who is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20) to intervene. I’m thankful for the sports commentators who affirmed the urgency for prayer. 

And I’m especially encouraged by the commentator who took the bold step to do more than talk about prayer; he did something about it, humbly and eloquently praying out loud on public TV. Maybe there’s hope yet for our increasingly secularized society.