Ten Thousand Hours

In a recent time of personal Bible reading, I came across a phrase which caught my attention. Psalm 109 is listed among what theologians label the “imprecatory” psalms. They can be quite confusing for the reader because the psalmist’s words are filled with pleas to God for misfortune and disaster to come upon his enemies. This psalm seemingly refutes Jesus’ instruction in the Gospels to “pray for our enemies” (Matthew 5:44) and Paul’s instruction to “bless those who curse” (Romans 12:14). However, a careful reading of these psalms prove that the writers were under severe persecution, and rather than taking revenge, were lifting their needs to the Lord. They were passionately pursuing God’s will to be done in the face of great injustice.

It is in the context of this psalm in which verse 4 in the NIV states “…but I am a man of prayer.” That statement caused me to ask of myself if this is a sentiment that could truly be spoken of my life. Regardless of the circumstances around me, am I a man of prayer? If I find myself lacking in this discipline and pursuit (I can assure you that I am lacking in this), how can I change my course?

Mark Batterson shares a story in his book The Circle Maker (which I recommend) which provides insight into this subject.

More than a decade ago, Anders Ericsson and his colleagues at Belin’s elite Academy of Music did a study with musicians. With the help of professors, they divided violinists into three groups: world class soloists, good violinists, and those who were unlikely to play professionally. All of them started playing at roughly the same age and practiced about the same amount of time until the age of eight. That is when their practice habits diverged. The researchers found that by the age of twenty, the average players had logged about four thousand hours of practice time; the good violinists totaled about eight thousand hours; the elite performers set the standard with ten thousand hours. While there is no denying that innate ability dictates some of your upside potential, your potential is only tapped via persistent effort. Persistence is the magic bullet, and the magic number seems to be ten thousand. The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again…Is prayer any different? It is a habit to be cultivated. It is a discipline to be developed. And while I don’t want to reduce praying hard to time logged, if you want to achieve mastery, it might take ten thousand hours.

I encourage you to pick up the 21-Day Prayer Guide and Journal this morning or to view it on our website. We will begin this prayer journey tomorrow, Monday, August 7. In addition to this prayer challenge, there will be a gathering at the Moundville Elementary School this afternoon at 5:00pm in which we will join alongside other churches in our community to pray for teachers/administrators, student, and parents at the beginning of this school year. Please participate in these opportunities and let’s begin and continue in the journey toward being “people of prayer.”

Praying more,

Jason