sin of omission

There’s a sin I commit all the time that I don’t know if I’ve ever acknowledge to God, much less repented of. That’s because I don’t see it as a sin. But this morning, in 1 Samuel 12:23, I read these words of Samuel: “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.” 

Context is important here. Samuel was telling the people that God would give them the king they demanded, even though that was a slap in the face for Samuel, who had led them faithfully his whole life. Samuel explained to them “the evil they had done in wanting a king.” 

Even so, even though the people insulted and offended him and did evil against God, Samuel prayed for them. He did that because not to pray would have been a sin against the Lord. Not to pray for evil people who had wronged him would have been a sin against God.

When bad people do bad things to me, my first thought isn’t to pray for them. In fact, I don’t often pray for good people who make me mad. I never thought that was a sin, though. I’ve always been focused on my own righteous anger. In fact, I may occasionally have wished for something bad to happen to that person.

Why would it be a sin against God not to pray for people who wrong me? Maybe because by not praying I’m not turning to God for help. Maybe because I’m seeing the situation as me against the other person, not me and the other person against Satan. Maybe what I’m really doing is abandoning one of my own, an image-bearer of God, to our true enemy. Maybe because what my own soul needs, what obedience to God demands, is that I forgive no matter what.

This is going to be a hard one for me. I like to think I forgive easily, but the truth is I don’t forget very quickly. And the idea of praying for some of those people . . . well, I need to do it. 

When people gossip, I like to say, “I won’t talk about that person with you until you pray for that person with me.” Saying that doesn’t very often end in prayer; usually it just kills the conversation. But I mean it. I need to mean it for the people I don’t like, too.