Many people agonize over the issue of unanswered
prayers. I know that for some people, past unanswered prayers form a
barrier that blocks any desire to keep company with God. What kind of
companion, who has the power to save a life or heal a disease, would sit on the
sidelines despite urgent pleas for help? In a sense, every war, every
epidemic or drought, every premature death, each birth defect, seems to
contradict the teasing sense that prayer could resolve it.
I had reason to really think about this a while back when a
neighborhood family was in crisis. Their 14-year-old daughter had been
diagnosed with a brain tumor. We all prayed for the child's recovery, or
at least for some kind of remission. It was not to be. In two short
months the child was gone. Her mother, Marilyn, was particularly swept up
in grief, and I attempted to help her work through it. She wanted to
understand why her fervent prayers apparently had gone unanswered.
I told Marilyn that even after confessing in our prayers
things we have done wrong and feel guilty about, and asking God's forgiveness,
our prayer does not work according to a fixed formula. It is not ---- get
your life in order, then say the right words, and the desired result will
come. If that were true, Jesus would never have gone to Golgotha and the
Cross. Between the two questions: "Does God answer prayers?"
and "Will God grant my specific prayer for this sick child or for this
particular injustice?" lies a great deal of mystery.
I told Marilyn that God is not a jolly grandfather who
satisfies our every desire. Certainly for the parents who have lost a
child, their wish would have been for the child to live. They would have
pleaded with God, but seemingly the request was denied.
Nor is God, I told Marilyn, a calculating merchant who
withholds his goods until we produce enough good works or faith to buy His
help. God does not hand out merit pay.
Then I suggested to Marilyn that Pastor David Mains had a
handy checklist for making sure our prayers are on target:
1.) What do I really want?
Am I being specific, or am I just rambling about nothing in
particular?
2.) Can God grant this request?
Or, is it against God's nature to do so? (Like a
prayer that I will win
the lottery.)
3.) Have I done my part?
Or, am I praying to lose weight when I haven't dieted?
4.) How good is my relationship with
God? Are we on speaking terms?
5.) Do I really want my prayer
answered? What would happen if I actually did get
that girlfriend back?
Remember, I said to Marilyn, this is a human's
rationale for successful prayer, and God may have His own ideas.
I pointed out to Marilyn that some prayers go unanswered
because they are simply frivolous. But, that clearly her prayers had not
been of this type. I was talking about a prayer like: "Lord, please
give us a sunny day for the soccer match." This trivializes prayer,
especially when local farmers may at the same time be praying for rain. A
last-ditch plea, "Help me get an "A" on the next test,"
will likely not succeed if the pray-er has not studied; just as a chain-smoker
has no right to pray, "Protect me from lung cancer."
I went on to say that athletes often have their own style of
frivolous prayers. Players in many sports all thump their chests, raise a
finger to the sky and pray with their eyes toward heaven. Apparently they
are asking God for a touchdown, goal or home run. Marilyn agreed that my
examples of frivolous unanswered prayers were actually self-serving and not in
accord with God's nature. They put the focus on our things, not on
the things of God.
We talked about some prayers really being impossible to
answer, although prayers for Marilyn's daughter did not seem to fit here.
If a dozen people pray to get the same job, eleven must ultimately come to
terms with their unanswered prayer. And if two "Christian"
nations wage war against each other, citizen prayers on the losing side would
not be answered to the satisfaction of the person praying.
What would happen if God answered EVERY prayer? If you
think about it, in effect God would be abdicating. He would be turning
over to us all the world's problems to solve. History shows how we have handled
the limited power already granted to us We have fought wars, committed
genocide, foiled the water and the air, destroyed forests, established unjust
political systems, concentrated pockets of superfluous wealth and grinding
poverty. What if God gave us automatic access to supernatural power by
granting all of our prayers? What further havoc might we wreak?
But often there is no logical explanation of unanswered
prayer. Author Philip Yancey has given much thought and writing to the
nature of prayer. He says we must place our faith in a God who has yet to
fulfill the promise that good will overcome evil, and that God's purposes will,
in the end, prevail. To cling to that belief, he says, may represent the
ultimate rationalization ---- or the ultimate act of faith.
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal
spiritual growth this winter at CPC.
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