Chapter 3, “Prayer Time” (Loc. 620)
Peterson expresses surprise at the number of things people would ask a pastor to do, especially considering that religious concerns seem less important to many people than they were in prior generations. Yet Peterson observes, “among the considerable demands on my time not one demanded that I practice a life of prayer” (Loc. 630). Yet Peterson insists this life of prayer, practicing how to respond to God’s Word, is heart and center of ministry.
Peterson ties this concept (Loc. 662) to the need for a sabbath, a day of rest. While we tend to think of night as the end, the biblical concept of a day starts with night, a time of expectancy. We look forward to God’s overarching plan and move in and out of his activities in our pattern of work and rest. The Sabbath then is the large time of rest, ordained by God.
The sabbath then is “Uncluttered time and space to distance ourselves from the frenzy of our own activities so we can see what God has been and is doing” (Loc. 727). Keeping this time and space is God’s command, allowing us to see him. Yet Peterson says we have a great desire to simply work harder. This is finally depending on ourselves rather than on God.
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