Is Prayer Your Steering Wheel or Your Spare Tyre?
I think of the times I’ve faced an important decision, weighing up the options and trying to work out the best way forward. It’s easy to make our plans first and then ask God to bless them afterwards, rather than invite Him into the process from the very beginning. I suspect many of us know that pattern: the diagnosis arrives, the job falls through, or a relationship begins to fracture - and only then do we think to pray. That’s because for many, somewhere along the way, prayer became the thing we do once everything else has failed.
Corrie ten Boom, a woman of remarkable faith who endured the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, famously asked, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?”. It’s a searching question. Is prayer our first response, guiding us daily like a steering wheel? Or is it something we keep tucked away in the boot, hoping we’ll never need it? If we’re honest, many of us treat prayer as a backup plan – something we reach for only when things fall apart.
But what if it could be different? What if prayer became the steering wheel of our lives – the thing we reach for first, in the small decisions as much as the big ones?
Hands on the Wheel
Imagine how much stress and regret we could spare ourselves if we sought God before choosing – before the crossroads in our career, before stepping into a difficult conversation, before the day has even begun. Prayer is how we admit that we don’t have all the answers, and how we invite God to show us the way.
Solomon wrote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Prayer doesn’t need perfect words. It is ongoing conversation with someone who already knows us, and over time it brings our hearts into line with His.
Why We Don't Pray First
I’ve sometimes excused myself when I’ve not been able to pray as I know I should have that it’s because I was too busy. But the failure to pray is not usually a problem of time. More often, it’s a problem of dependence - an indication that we are relying on our own strength. We often default to self-reliance; we assess, plan, and act in our own wisdom, perhaps turning to prayer only when our resources are exhausted or our solutions fall short. Prayer becomes the last resort, when it was always meant to be the first thing we do.
Yet the Bible never treats prayer as a backup plan. It treats it as the way we stay close to God. Jesus spoke of the vine and the branches in John 15, and a branch doesn’t try to manage on its own. Prayer is where we admit that we are creatures and not the Creator, and that our wisdom and strength are borrowed.
This is why God keeps inviting His people to call on Him. Prayer is not merely asking for help - it is an act of worship and trust. Every sincere prayer is a confession that we cannot carry life on our own - and were never meant to.
To make prayer our steering wheel rather than our spare tyre is to surrender the illusion of control. It is to begin each day with the recognition that God sees what we cannot see and knows what we do not know. Prayer is not for those who have run out of options; it is for those who know that without Christ, they can do nothing.
Why Prayer Matters
Prayer is more than a means of getting God’s help - it’s one of the primary ways we enjoy fellowship with Him. Through prayer, we bring our hearts into alignment with His will. When we do this, we also bring our burdens into His presence and and our concerns under His care.
God doesn’t invite us to pray because He needs information. He already knows what we need before we ask. He invites us because He wants us. He desires a relationship with His children. Prayer draws us closer, and the closer we are, the more we trust Him. We find we are not facing life alone.
That is why God’s invitation to Jeremiah is so striking: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3). He said it while Jerusalem was under siege and Jeremiah was confined in the courtyard of the guard. In the middle of all that uncertainty, God invited His servant to lean on Him and to understand more.
Does that mean the road will always be smooth? No. Prayer doesn’t promise an easy path. What it does promise is God’s presence on the path. His will is not always easy, but it is always good and wise, and that makes it worth trusting.
Take Control by Letting Go
Today, be encouraged to make a small, conscious shift. Move prayer from the spare tyre position to the steering wheel of your life. It doesn’t need to be complicated:
Start the day by dedicating it to God.
Pause before you act, and seek His guidance.
Close the day by thanking Him for the ways He has been at work.
Paul, who wrote to the Philippians while in chains, said, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
That peace doesn’t wait for our circumstances to change. There will still be bumps and detours - there always are - but we’re travelling with a God who knows where the road leads.
So which is it for you: steering wheel or spare tyre? If it’s the latter, maybe try this: tomorrow morning, before the phone and the plans, pray one honest sentence: “Lord, I don't know what today holds. Lead me”. And let that prayer be the first turn of the wheel.