Encountering God at the Western Wall in Jerusalem

Every year, 10 million people from all around the world come to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Most bring with them prayers written out. Joining in a spiritual heritage that extends back several millennia, they place these notes to God within the cracks of the wall.

In bringing these prayers, it is not just ritual or tradition: God is listening. He is meeting people at the point of their need at the Western Wall—which is what my family and members of our church found when we visited only months ago.

Preparing for Prayer

Now I don’t believe the Western Wall is mystical, that somehow going there gets you closer to God and your prayers answered. There’s nothing in it that’s magical.

The Western Wall is a place in history where people have come, where they have believed God in moments of great crisis when they needed a supernatural intervention—as a nation and as individuals.

The Western Wall is all that is left of the second temple. Extending some 1,600 feet in length, it rises 187 feet high on the Western side of the Temple Mount—though most of that is not seen. There are 17 layers of the wall, with two of those layers only recently uncovered by archaeological efforts. 

It is one of the most holy sites in all the world for Jews. In fact, Jews pray with such pathos at the Western Wall, decades ago when Christians and others saw this they began calling it “the wailing wall” (a term no longer used widely.) The Western Wall is the closest point to the Holy of Holies accessible for worship by Jews, who face that sacred place when they pray.

Some come to the Western Wall to recite every word of the Psalms, breathing new life into the words of Psalms 1:2: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.” As we see in the short video our team produced, young men bind the Word of God on their arms and forehead using small leather boxes called tefillin.

Clearly our Jewish brethren are serious about preparing for prayer. As Christians, what can you and I take from seeing such devotion? And what secrets did Jesus give us to unlock a vibrant prayer life?

Whether it’s Moses parting the sea, Elijah calling down fire or Daniel being spared from the lions, we see God act when we cry out to Him in fervent prayer.

Jesus began teaching us how to pray with the words, “Our Father.” Notice it’s not Judge or Law-giver or Creator, though God is all of those and more. First and foremost, He desires each of us to know Him as our loving Father.

We cannot let any past experience with our earthly fathers distort that. God has never harmed you; He is there for you with open arms to let those moments be redeemed. 

I believe it is also significant that this prayer begins with worship—hallowed be Your Name—and it ends with worship: Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Jesus urges us to pray in like spirit.

Coming With Expectation

Twice a year, the governing body of the Western Wall removes the written notes. Nobody reads them. And according to Jewish religious practice, it is forbidden to destroy anything with the name of God on it. So what happens?

Some 3,000 years ago, when the temple Solomon built was still being used to worship the Lord, the practice began of burying these prayers at one of the world’s most revered cemeteries—a place where the prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are still buried.

To speak of that location brings to mind a moment when our tour bus was coming near the Old City of Jerusalem.

Like most of our church group, my wife and daughters were craning their necks to see best out of the right side—a stark look at the city’s ancient walls. Yet on the left side, suddenly I saw a view that shouldn’t be missed. 

“Lisa, look, the Mount of Olives! That’s where Jesus will stand when He returns to earth.” 

It hit her like a revelation. We had been going from one site to the next, recounting the great heroes of our faith—from Old to New Testament, from church history and further back into Jewish culture. After nearly a week’s journey throughout Israel, it’s easy to miss the reality of each place and its meaning. 

But Lisa caught the significance. “Girls, look to the left: it’s the Mount of Olives where Jesus will return!” she echoed to our daughters with anticipation in her voice.

It’s there, in the ancient soil on the Mount of Olives, where prayer requests and praise reports from the Western Wall are buried. And it’s that same sense of expectation, of holding on to His every word, that should be the posture of our hearts in prayer.

Declaring Our Need

God wants us to know that when we come with hearts desiring to connect with Him, His presence will always be there. You don’t have to go to the Western Wall—right where you are, right now, God can be with you at your point of need. 

Before I spoke about the Western Wall at Capital Life Church, a few of our creatively gifted members constructed a makeshift wall (mostly out of cardboard and shelving) where people could come and place their prayers in the cracks. We wrote out and brought our prayers as a point of contact to be touched by God.

Some of us prayed for healing in body, mind or spirit. While interceding on behalf of world crises is important, God wants each of us to set time apart to declare our personal needs to Him. 

Days later, we buried those written prayer requests on our property—a physical symbolic act that any schemes of the enemy are under the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

When Jesus stood just feet away from a blind man, He asked him a curious question: “What do you want from Me?” Jesus recognized the man’s need for physical sight. Yet He called forth a partnership—asking the blind man to step forward in faith right then.

Prayer invites us to do this together. The heavenly power comes from Jesus. The part we play is coming into connection and agreement, declaring faith in His power. Somehow it sets forth things in the Spirit.

So what is your greatest prayer need right now? If God were standing before you asking, “What is it you want from Me?”—how would you answer?

Pastor Bill Shulerserves as lead pastor of Capital Life Church, a life-giving interdenominational church in Arlington, Virginia, serving the Washington, D.C., capital region.

Josh Shepherd, who serves in communications at the Justice House of Prayer DC, co-produced (with Aaron Wong) the church’s Israel Revealed documentary series.