Expectations disappoint when we Pray fervently and God is silent. What comes next? The bubble bursts followed by anger and frustration. Then we complain. “God always says no to me.” “Prayer does no good.” “Why pray at all?” “I’ll never ask for anything again.” “What did I do wrong?” “God hates me. He doesn’t care.” “Bible promises mean nothing.” “Christianity is false.” “Why?” What does the Bible have to say about this issue? Let’s see.
Consider the following scripture.
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10 ESV)
It sounds as though Jesus is telling us that God must do whatever we want. If this were true, we could publicly affirm with a loud, fervid voice: “God according to your promise I hereby demand that you do what I say.” We become his master; he becomes our slave. Any reasonable person knows that this cannot be what Jesus had in mind. Imagine declaring: “In Jesus name, God’s kingdom come RIGHT NOW!” Don’t get your hopes up.
In the above passage the word ‘you’ appears four times. Who is the ‘you’? Is it the congregation, the community, or the individual? Likewise, does the word ‘everyone’ apply to a collection of believers in agreement, or does it apply to a single person? And what about the word ‘one’? Is this the one integrated into a congregation? Or, is the ‘one’ an individual praying as a lone-warrior? In the West, the answer is obvious. The passage is speaking about an individual person. Not so in some Eastern cultures. In those, the passage implies a communal focus. Every culture has presuppositions, and these blind spots interfere with how we interpret the written text. Which reading of the above passage is correct? I don’t know. Maybe both. You decide.
There is another thing to consider. Who is a prayer being addressed to? Suppose I was in a room and shout, “Bring me a cup of coffee.” Who Am I talking to? I didn’t specify. Those in the room would probably think I lost my mind. How do we address God in our prayers? Is he the God of the Universe? Or is he a smaller god of our imagination? This is where praise comes in. It is not that God is needy. It is so we clearly identify the God who we serve. This doesn’t have to be a legalistic thing. The Lord’s prayer starts with a simple “Our Father.” We could say something like “Abba, the Creator of all things who gives me breath for another day.” Or, we could start with something else. I think it is a good thing to address God in a way that is respectful and not treat him as our butler. I confess. Many times I fall short.
A ‘High Context’ culture is one where things are spelled out in detail. Those that are ‘Low Context’ do not explicitly state that which everyone takes for granted. For example, prayer can be hindered by an unforgiving spirit (Mk 11:25-26), men who mistreat their wives (1 Pet 3:7), lack of repentance (Ps 66:18), selfish prayers (James 4:3), lack of faith (James 1:5-7), etc. Jesus does not have to repeat a tally of conditions every time he talks about prayer; they are assumed. Neither am I going to come up with a comprehensive list. You can do a Google search if you are interested. Note though, obsessing on this is unproductive and discouraging. The Holy Spirit doesn’t hesitate to tell us when we go off track. Furthermore, God is not required to ignore prayers from the imperfect. Consider the parable of the publican and pharisee:
Publican : God, be merciful to me, a sinner!Pharisee : God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
God responded to the publican who likely had a long list of prayer impediments. He ignored the Pharisee who thought he had none. God is always free to do what God does.
What happens if a person has none of the inhibiting factors? Is God then obligated to answer? I’m going to say: “No.” Consider the following passage.
He (Jesus) went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given him? … And they took offense at him.” … And he could do no mighty work there …. (Mark 6:1-5 ESV)
What? Jesus, God’s beloved Son couldn’t do any mighty work? Why not? Did he become powerless? Apparently so from these verses. What is going on? My take is this. Abba spoke to Jesus and said: “No.” Jesus submitted to his father’s will.
There is another example. Before the crucifixion, Jesus in distress pleaded that Abba spare him the turmoil of the cross. Again, Abba said: “No, there is no other way.” Jesus replied, “Your will be done.” This is the key. Abba has veto power over anything we ask. He does not relinquish his position as God. If we are not sure that something is God’s will, ‘your will be done’ should be the attitude of our heart.
On the surface, ‘Your will be done’ seems to water down the power of prayer. Not so. There are times we can know and pray for something with assurance. How do we do this? This is not by self-will, convincing ourselves that we believe and have powerful faith. That kind of faith is an illusion, weak at best. Trying to force ourselves to have faith, only leads to frustration and anxiety. The following passage gives us a clue.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. (Rom 12:3-6 ESV)
When God is on the move, he impresses his followers with the need to pray or act. It is up to us to respond. Prayer in this scenario is powerful and effective. I never got one of these kinds of messages directly from God. Apparently, this is not my spiritual gift. My wife Viv, does on occasion. I remember a time when we were hiking. During the hike, Viv saw a mental picture of our older son drowning in a river. We immediately stopped and prayed. Later that day we learned that he foolishly tried to swim across the Willamette. Half way over he got caught in a current and was in serious trouble. He was saved when a person on a Jet Ski came along to help.
Let’s consider an example like this from the Bible.
Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. ” (Acts 14:8-10 ESV)
In the middle of the sermon, God informed Paul that a particular man would stand up if told; Paul responded; the man got up and was healed. This reveals a pattern. God reveals what he has in mind; we respond; God acts. This is very different from how many operate. That is: we decide what must be done; we gen-up our emotions and convince ourselves that we have faith; we pray and demand that God respond. The first approach works and reveals God’s goodness. The second fails and leads to doubt and disillusionment.
Does this mean that we should only pray when God specifically tells us? Of course, not. David travailed for his son in 2 Sam 12. But when God said “No” and the son died, David surrendered to God’s will. It is perfectly acceptable to pour out our heart to God about whatever is on our minds. It is even okay to shout, complain, and say things that are not spiritual. A good parent is always happy to hear the wants of their children. God is a good Abba. But never lose sight that we do not have the power to manipulate God. Be assured though, even in the worst inexplicable situations, we can trust that he is love and he cares for us. He is the author and finisher of our faith. In times of suffering and loss, he may not respond as we wish. Yet he walks with us still.
Thanks for listening,secondlooknow.com
Thanks for this walk thru the Bible.
Well said.
What is the big thing on top that looks like a Hebrew letter with vowels?
It was supposed to be a person praying. Sorry that it wasn’t more clear.
But I, not familiar with written Hebrew, knew exactly that it was a kneeling person. It’s amazing how our brains differently interpret what we see, The scholar saw a bit of unrecognizable alphabet; I saw the profile of a man. That goes also to the gist your comments re understanding prayer in the cultural context. It’s so interesting! Thanks!
Dan, what a perfect way of addressing the high context/low context divide. The amount of heurmanutical abuse that has been done to Scripture by the modern western reader, both wittingly and out of ignorance, is considerable. Before we pray, we should consider the spirit in which we pray, what God is doing, ect.
Prayer is about drawing near to the one we need, not extracting the things we need from one who is far away. How comforting to remember that God knows what we need before we ask. If my hearts prayer is like Jesus, I already will have my daily bread, even if it is the bread of peasants and not of kings.