I just heard a clip of someone asking Senator and Presidential hopeful John Edwards if he thought prayer works. He said he didn't think so. He prayed before his son died and he prayed before his wife was diagnosed with cancer to no avail either time. So prayer doesn't work. I have to commend him for his honesty and I can't imagine the pain that his answer came from.
I don't write this to condemn him in any way but rather to condemn the question. When people ask "does prayer work?", what do they mean by "work"? They mean do you get what you want. But God isn't a genie in a bottle granting wishes and the better you are or the more you pray the more wishes you get answered. Prayer isn't about getting what you want or about getting God to do what you want. Prayer is about a relationship with God. Thats like asking "does talking with your wife work?". Assuming nothing is wrong with her hearing, of course it works, she hears me and as a result of our talking our relationship grows. Just as talking with Jenny is my way of connecting with her so praying with God is my way of connecting with him. So does prayer work to connect with God and grow closer to him? Yes.
Now if I came home from work and said, "Jenny, thank you for being my wife and for all the things you do, please do the dishes, vacuum and cook dinner. I love you, bye." then I went downstairs and watched TV... in that case you might say that "talking" didn't work. If that is how I talk to my wife then not only will I not get what I asked for, but it won't bring us closer together either. So will prayers like this "work"? No.
On the other hand when we face hardship and we pray like Jesus "Lord please let this cup pass from me, but not my will be done but rather yours." Instead of only asking for healing or for the situation to be changed we open ourselves up to seeing how God is working through this pain or trial. We begin to see how Gods Kingdom is moving forward and how we can line ourselves up with Gods perfect will. We may not always find answers in this but we will find peace.
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2 comments:
That is sad what J.E. said, but, according to his definition, true...
I think prayer is all about what Jesus prayed in the Lord's Prayer, and again in the Garden, "Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done..."
Sort of like us saying to God, "You gave us dominion down here, and we have really messed things up. Could you please step back in and fix things?"
We pray for what we think His will would be for the situation, but most of all we pray for Him to step in. And we pray so that perhaps He can show us what His will actually is for that situation; or at the least so that we can receive the comfort of knowing that He is working there. Despite our bad choices, despite the reign of sin that still exists in our world... He is working there. Despite the fact that we can't see the whole picture and it might seem crazy that God isn't stepping in to avert disaster in a certain instance... He is working there.
Prayer is such a mystery to me, and something I have always struggled with. I think that there are times when even being able to say "Jesus" or saying to God what you really feel, even if the feelings are ugly or difficult are some of the times when prayer is just about being naked before God.
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