Faith in Prayer
June 9th 2008 07:56
The other day my youngest son was looking for his stuffed toy. My eldest son told him that he would pray and then God would help him find it. They prayed and continued looking for about five minutes, at which point my youngest son gave up. “God isn’t going to help me find him,” he said. My eldest son said yes he will. God will help you find him. I wish I could properly convey to you the tone in which this was said. There was no doubt, no uncertainty. My son had absolute faith that God would answer his prayer.
Sure enough, about 30 seconds later, my youngest son got up, went to his room and returned with the stuffed toy he was looking for. But he told us that God didn’t help him at all. Instead, he had just gotten this feeling in his heart that he knew where it was and when he went and looked, there it was. I told him that I thought God did help and that feeling in the heart was God’s way of telling him where the stuffed toy was. I also told my eldest son that I believed his prayer – and his absolute faith that God would answer that prayer – no doubt had had some bearing on my youngest son finding his toy again.
We are told to have faith like that. When we pray, we should have absolute confidence that God hears us and will answer our prayers. But I have to say I’m a long way from praying with the same kind of faith that my son displays. It’s hard to have that faith when I know that God quite often doesn’t answer prayers – or at least not in the way we want. I’ve been to meetings where we pray for things every week. Also every week we tell how God has answered the prayers of the previous week. Perhaps I’m just too skeptical, but I can’t help noticing that most of the answers to prayers are only something minor and probably something that would have happened anyway. And that despite us saying constantly that this shows that God answers prayers, there are a lot of things we pray for that never happen.
There are always reasons for this. But to be perfectly honest, sometimes they feel like cop-outs, like ways of trying to explain what just can’t be understood. We are told that God always answers prayers, but sometimes the answer is no. We are told that God will give us anything we want, provided it is in his will. Well that makes sense – but it’s not very useful. I have absolute faith that Queen Elizabeth would invite me to Buckingham Palace if it was in her will. However, I’m pretty certain it’s never going to be in her will.
The other reason given for why God doesn’t answer prayer brings us back to the faith issue. Sometimes, we are told, God doesn’t answer our prayers because we don’t have enough faith. It’s like a Catch-22 situation. If we don’t believe God will give us what we are asking for, then he doesn’t. But how can we believe he will, when we know of so many situation in the past when he hasn’t – perhaps even when we have prayed with absolute faith that it is in God’s will and he will answer our prayer.
So what kind of faith should we have when we pray? Faith that God will do what we ask, provided it is within his will. That requires no faith at all. Or absolute faith that God will do what we want, even though we have the experience of knowing he sometimes doesn’t.
I quite often write as a way of searching for answers. Sometimes simply the act of writing helps to clarify things in my mind. But in this case, I have no answers. All I have is questions. I can’t pray with the kind of faith I used to have because, unlike my son, I have had too many experiences when God hasn’t answered prayer. I know that it happens. I can’t just pretend that it doesn’t. But still I pray. I have faith that God hears and that he can answer my prayers. Beyond that, I’m afraid my faith is pretty weak.
My youngest son – the one who found his stuffed toy – has been sick recently. Not a major illness, but it has dragged on for over a week. Every night I have prayed for him to get better. Yet it seems God isn’t answering my prayers. Is it because it’s not in God’s will? Or is it because my faith is too weak? And if it’s the former, then why would God not want my son to get better. And if it’s the latter, is it fair of God to let my child suffer just because my faith is weak?
Again more question, with no answers. But just so that I don’t end this on a hopelessly pessimistic note, I would like to say something positive. I have prayed for things that seemed almost impossible and God has answered those prayers. I have prayed for things that seemed hopelessly silly and inconsequential and God has given me what I wanted. I do believe in prayer and I believe in the God who listen to prayers. I firmly believe that my son found his stuffed toy because of the prayers of my eldest son. I know prayer works – sometimes. I’m just at a bit of a loss to explain why it works in some cases and not in others.
Sure enough, about 30 seconds later, my youngest son got up, went to his room and returned with the stuffed toy he was looking for. But he told us that God didn’t help him at all. Instead, he had just gotten this feeling in his heart that he knew where it was and when he went and looked, there it was. I told him that I thought God did help and that feeling in the heart was God’s way of telling him where the stuffed toy was. I also told my eldest son that I believed his prayer – and his absolute faith that God would answer that prayer – no doubt had had some bearing on my youngest son finding his toy again.
We are told to have faith like that. When we pray, we should have absolute confidence that God hears us and will answer our prayers. But I have to say I’m a long way from praying with the same kind of faith that my son displays. It’s hard to have that faith when I know that God quite often doesn’t answer prayers – or at least not in the way we want. I’ve been to meetings where we pray for things every week. Also every week we tell how God has answered the prayers of the previous week. Perhaps I’m just too skeptical, but I can’t help noticing that most of the answers to prayers are only something minor and probably something that would have happened anyway. And that despite us saying constantly that this shows that God answers prayers, there are a lot of things we pray for that never happen.
There are always reasons for this. But to be perfectly honest, sometimes they feel like cop-outs, like ways of trying to explain what just can’t be understood. We are told that God always answers prayers, but sometimes the answer is no. We are told that God will give us anything we want, provided it is in his will. Well that makes sense – but it’s not very useful. I have absolute faith that Queen Elizabeth would invite me to Buckingham Palace if it was in her will. However, I’m pretty certain it’s never going to be in her will.
The other reason given for why God doesn’t answer prayer brings us back to the faith issue. Sometimes, we are told, God doesn’t answer our prayers because we don’t have enough faith. It’s like a Catch-22 situation. If we don’t believe God will give us what we are asking for, then he doesn’t. But how can we believe he will, when we know of so many situation in the past when he hasn’t – perhaps even when we have prayed with absolute faith that it is in God’s will and he will answer our prayer.
So what kind of faith should we have when we pray? Faith that God will do what we ask, provided it is within his will. That requires no faith at all. Or absolute faith that God will do what we want, even though we have the experience of knowing he sometimes doesn’t.
I quite often write as a way of searching for answers. Sometimes simply the act of writing helps to clarify things in my mind. But in this case, I have no answers. All I have is questions. I can’t pray with the kind of faith I used to have because, unlike my son, I have had too many experiences when God hasn’t answered prayer. I know that it happens. I can’t just pretend that it doesn’t. But still I pray. I have faith that God hears and that he can answer my prayers. Beyond that, I’m afraid my faith is pretty weak.
My youngest son – the one who found his stuffed toy – has been sick recently. Not a major illness, but it has dragged on for over a week. Every night I have prayed for him to get better. Yet it seems God isn’t answering my prayers. Is it because it’s not in God’s will? Or is it because my faith is too weak? And if it’s the former, then why would God not want my son to get better. And if it’s the latter, is it fair of God to let my child suffer just because my faith is weak?
Again more question, with no answers. But just so that I don’t end this on a hopelessly pessimistic note, I would like to say something positive. I have prayed for things that seemed almost impossible and God has answered those prayers. I have prayed for things that seemed hopelessly silly and inconsequential and God has given me what I wanted. I do believe in prayer and I believe in the God who listen to prayers. I firmly believe that my son found his stuffed toy because of the prayers of my eldest son. I know prayer works – sometimes. I’m just at a bit of a loss to explain why it works in some cases and not in others.
| 58 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by S. L. Bradish
Comment by samaritan
Fringe Faith
But I think you're right. When we pray specifically, we may miss other ways that God can give us the same thing - perhaps better ways. For many prayer requests that we make, there is an underlying root need or problem. God may be working to solve that problem or satisfy that need, while seemingly ignoring our prayer requests.