A Simple Way to Pray–Luther’s Four Big Barber Questions

The story goes that one day while he was getting a haircut, Martin Luther was asked by his barber, Peter Beskendorf, “Dr. Luther, how do you pray?” In answer to his question, Luther sent Beskendorf a letter—40 printed pages in length!  Luther’s “prayer plan,” as it turned out, was a combination of Bible study and prayer. In order to give his barber an easy plan by which to formulate prayers on the thoughts of his Bible study, Luther said he should ask the four questions to a text and then weave them into his prayer based on the answers Scripture gives him.

• What does this Bible lesson teach me to do?  (Main Theme)
• What does it teach me to be thankful for? (Specific Gospel)
• What does it teach me to confess? (Specific Sin)
• What does it teach me to ask for? (Sanctification)

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Luther’s Four Big Barber Questions are not only a great way to develop a productive prayer life, but they are also a good way of studying the Bible. Each week as you study the scripture lessons assigned you will use the Four Big Barber Questions as the basis for your study. In order to get familiar with the Four Big Barber Questions take a few minutes to work though an example of this study method based on Luther’s Study of the First Commandment.

Read Exodus 20:2-6

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

1.  What does Exodus 20:2-6 teach you to do? 

Luther states, “Here I ponder, first of all, what God requires of me, how he teaches me that I can trust him completely under all circumstances.  His great concern is that I recognize him as my God and cling to him lest I risk the loss of eternal bliss.  My heart should rest its hope on him and trust nothing else—be it wealth, honor, wisdom, power, piety, or anything or any creature.”

2.  What does Exodus 20:2-6 teach you to be thankful for?

Luther says, “I thank God for his infinite compassion, which caused him unbidden, unsought and unmerited to seek to be a father to me—a lost person—and to adopt, comfort, protect, help, and strengthen me in every need.  Otherwise we poor, blind creatures who have sought all kinds of gods would still be about our search had he not so generously revealed himself through our language and offered himself as our God.  Who can ever thank him enough for that?”

3.  What does Exodus 20:2-6 teach you to confess?

Luther says, “I confess and acknowledge my sins and ingratitude for having my whole lifetime so shamefully slighted such a sacred teaching and precious gift, and by idolatrous practices have angered and outrageously irritated him.  I repent of them and pray for his forgiveness.”

4.  What does Exodus 20:2-6 teach you to ask for?

Luther says, “I pray and say, ‘O my God and Lord, by your kindness help me daily to learn and understand them better and live them in unshaken confidence.  Guard my heart lest I continue to be so remiss and ungrateful as to seek other gods or look for comfort upon earth from any other creature, but lead me to trust and hold fast without wavering to you alone, my God. Amen, dear God Father.  Amen.’”

You can learn more about Luther’s Four Big Barber Questions here or purchase a copy of A Simple Way to Pray here. God bless your time in meditation and prayer.

If you are using the questions in a group the following format may be of use to you:

1. Read the entire scripture lessoneither out loud as a group or silently as individuals.
2. Read the lesson summary printed on the devotion outline.
3. Have each participant spend time meditating on the lesson individually while attempting to answer Luther’s Four Big Barber Questions.
4. As a group work through and discuss Luther’s Four Big Barber Questions.
5. Use Big Barber Question number four as a transition into praying together as a group. Have the leader start the prayer, then each member adds a petition, finally the leader closes the prayer and leads the Lord’s Prayer.

Put Luther’s Four Big Barber Questions into practice by making use of one of our Daily Bread Lectionary Devotions.