Ever stood outside an ICU? If you have, you’ll know the scene. A husband walking up and down like a tiger in a cage, muttering under his breath. A mother wringing her hands, glancing at the closed doors every second. A son staring at his phone but not really seeing it, while his mind races faster than the Mumbai local at rush hour.

Do those extra footsteps add minutes to the patient’s life? Does your frenzied muttering convince the surgeon to stitch straighter or inject better? Yet, we pace. Not just outside ICUs, but in life. Bills unpaid? We pace. Boss angry? We pace. Children going astray? We pace—in our drawing rooms, in our minds, sometimes even in our sleep.

But tucked neatly between the frantic footsteps of man are stories of those who did not pace but prayed. Let’s begin with a king—Hezekiah. When another king sent him a nasty letter full of threats (2 Kings 19:14), Hezekiah didn’t tear his robes running in circles. No, he took the letter, went into the temple, and calmly spread it out before God. “Here Lord, you read this,” he said. And the result? Victory! Hezekiah gained peace by praying.

Then there’s Daniel. Thrown into a lion’s den for refusing to bow to the king’s ego. I’d imagine most of us would have danced around the den screaming, “Shoo lions, shoo!” or tried small talk: “So… had dinner yet?” But not Daniel. He didn’t pace. He didn’t panic. He prayed, trusted, and probably slept better on the lions’ backs than he ever did on a royal mattress. Morning came, the lions yawned, and Daniel strolled out—calm, composed, and untouched.

Prayer worked where pacing would have failed.

And then Paul. He was on a ship headed to Rome when a storm broke loose (Acts 27). Sailors ran, shouted, tied ropes, untied ropes, threw things overboard, and generally looked like they were rehearsing a Bollywood dance sequence gone wrong. But Paul? He prayed. He calmed them down. He told them, “Don’t worry, not a life will be lost.” And true enough, all were saved. While the sailors wore out their sandals pacing, Paul stood firm in prayer.

So, here’s the choice, my friends: prayer power or perturbed pacing. You can either wear out your shoe leather or bend your knees. You can either rehearse the worst-case scenario in your head a thousand times, or hand it once to God.

Isaiah 41:10 whispers, “Do not fear, for I am with you.” That means you and I are chosen not for panic, but for peace.

So next time you’re tempted to pace the floor—stop, fold your hands, close your eyes. Try prayer power. Like Hezekiah, Daniel, and Paul, found out, the shortest route to peace is not ‘frantic footsteps’, but ‘still knees’.

And if you must pace, let it be in thanksgiving—run back like the healed leper-to thank Him..!

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