I often find myself thinking I’m too busy to pray.
I’m surely not as busy as Martin Luther was, though:
His job as professor of Bible at the University of Wittenberg was full-time work of its own. He wrote theological treatises by the score: biblical, homiletical, liturgical, educational, devotional, and political, some of which have shaped Protestant church life for centuries. All the while he was translating the whole of Scriptures into German, a language that he helped to shape by that very translation. He carried on a voluminous correspondence, for he was constantly asked for advice and counsel. Travel, meetings, conferences, and colloquies were the order of the day. All the while he was preaching regularly to a congregation that he must have regarded as a showcase of the Reformation. (from John Piper)
So what a rebuke this statement is!
“If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” (Martin Luther)
Ouch.
My attitude, I think, reflects:
a) an over-estimation of my own ability to do stuff, and
b) an under-estimation of God’s ability to do stuff
