God expects you to call upon him when you're in trouble. You might say to your children, "If you have any trouble, stop and call me." You want them to rely on you when they're in trouble. Your heavenly Father wants you to rely on him when you're in a crisis. So why don't people instinctively pray when they're in trouble?

If you don't turn to God when tragedy strikes, it's probably one of two reasons: either you don't believe he can help so you just don't ask (as we discussed in Chapter Three), or you're not in the habit of going to him under normal circumstances, so when the pressure is on, you revert back to old habits.

REVERTING TO OLD HABITS

When faced with severe trouble people instinctively revert back to lifelong habits. That's why the recording caught the pilots cursing God instead of praying to him. That was their habit. Whether or not you pray in times of trouble will depend upon your daily routine. If you are not going to God on a daily basis for strength and guidance, it's not likely you will turn to him in a crisis. Like those pilots, you will revert to your habits when trouble strikes. If your routine is more characterized by cursing than praying, you'll be more likely to curse God than to pray to him even in the darkest hour.

A good basketball player will practice free throws over and over, shooting them exactly the same way. He hopes that he will develop such good habits that when the pressure is on, he can still perform correctly. He knows that in stressful situations, the body responds as it has been trained to respond. So does the mind and the spirit.

Luke 22:44 describes Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane just hours before the crucifixion: "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." In his darkest hour, he prayed. His prayer may have been more intense than normal, but it was natural for him to turn to his Father for help because that's what he was used to doing. The Bible says that during his busy days when the crowds were following him and everything was going well, "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16).

When our children were toddlers we developed a habit of reading a Bible story to them and praying with them before they went to sleep. We faithfully went through that routine every night. Sometimes it seemed like we were just going through the motions, but it was an acknowledgement that God was real to us and that prayer was a vital part of every day. When they grew older, we continued the habit, usually sitting down at the kitchen table late in the evening for a few minutes before they went off to bed. One of us would read a section of Scripture and then both boys would take turns praying aloud.

A few years later we went through one of those periods of teenage rebellion. I discovered that one of my sons had violated a family rule in a major way. I was angry. When I confronted him, he confessed and apologized. He could tell he had wounded me, and he broke down and wept. His tears broke my heart. I put my arms around him and held him like I did when he was a little child. He sobbed, "Dad, could we pray or something?" We knelt by the couch and prayed. It was a heartwarming, cleansing moment that bound us together. But it would have never happened — it would never have been so natural for my son to want to pray with me — if many years earlier we hadn't developed the sometimes perfunctory habit of praying every night together.

When you are daily going to God for strength and wisdom, you will more naturally turn to him when tragedy strikes.

DO YOU PRAY FOR OTHER CHRISTIANS IN TROUBLE?

The Bible commands us to "always keep on praying for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:18). You might go to God when you're in trouble, and you might pray for those close to you when they are in trouble. But those of us in American often overlook a large group of saints facing daily trouble: the persecuted Christians. The Hebrew writer urged, "Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering."