I Want to Hear Bert Wilson Pray Again
Enjoy this reading from Book 2: The Thumbs-Up Man
From God’s Word, the Bible…
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
James 5:16-18
Before I began serving as a pastor (at age sixteen), I was a member of Vanburensburg Baptist Church in Vanburensburg, Illinois. It is likely that there are more letters in the church’s name than there were members of the church.
One of the members was Bert Wilson. When I first got acquainted with Bert, he was already well advanced in years. I remember him as being very warm, kind, and humble.
The thing I remember most about Bert was his praying. Our dear pastor, Ernest Flowers—himself a wonderful Christian man—would often call on Bert to lead the congregation in prayer.
Our little church did not have pews. We had what we called theater seats. But they weren’t plush, cushioned seats. They had wooden backs and wooden seats, and when we got up the seats would make a rather loud clacking noise. When the pastor called on Bert to pray, those seats would clack as members across the tiny building rose, not to stand during the prayer, but rather to kneel on the hardwood floor.
Everyone knew what to expect when Bert led in prayer. It would not be brief, light, and breezy. It would last from ten to fifteen minutes, and it would be earnest, heartfelt, and moving. It taught me that there is such a thing as laying hold of God in prayer. By the way, in the four or five years that I was a member of that church, I never heard anyone complain about the time Bert took to pray. If there had been any complaints about Bert’s praying, I think they would have been along the lines of it being too brief. How that man prayed! And how time seemed to stand still when he prayed! Many in the congregation would find themselves lost in wonder, love, and praise when Bert prayed, and it was not at all unusual to hear people weeping during the prayer and to see tear-stained cheeks when it was over.
Bert was short in physical stature, but he was a spiritual giant. His prayers reminded us of the sovereignty and majesty of God and of His marvelous saving love—love that sent His Son to die on the cross for a world of unlovely, unworthy, undeserving sinners.
The trend in churches in recent years has been running against Bert Wilson. He would undoubtedly be told that prayer can’t take too much time and can’t be quite so serious. It seems these days that we are bent on making God small and casual. We dress casually, we pray casually, we preach casually, and we hurry to get through. The God of our day is smiling, benign, and user-friendly. His primary purpose seems to be to help us cope with life’s difficulties and to manage our busy schedules. After it is all over, we might allow ourselves in an infrequent moment of deep reflection to wonder why God doesn’t thrill our souls. We should not expect to get a big thrill from a little God. If we insist on making God little, we will get little in return. Bert prayed to a big God.
Serious times call for serious praying. These are serious times. Where are those who are seriously praying?
I am not Bert Wilson’s equal in praying. My praying must sound in God’s ears like the babbling of an infant compared to Bert’s. But I do pray, and one of my prayers these days is this: Lord give us more Bert Wilsons.
I have many precious memories from my youth, but if someone were to ask me to choose one thing to relive, I think I would say: I want to hear Bert Wilson pray again
Reading taken from Book 2: The “Thumbs-Up” Man
