Smack Down - Round I

As promised last post, I'm climbing into the ring to wrestle with the question "why isn't my prayer answered?" I'm going to start out in a defensive posture on this one: It's way bigger than me and really hard to pin down - I'm going to just try and stay on my feet.

So here's my first maneuver: I don't know. (The crowd boos and throws things...) But wait - before there's a riot out there, let me hedge a bit - I promise there will be full body contact, I just need to get into position.

You see, it's a loaded question. We need to define what is meant by "answering my prayer". Sure, I could say that God answers all prayers, but sometimes He says "no." But, while accurate, feels a lot like cheating. I wouldn't be completely off-base by saying it after all, didn't Christ pray "Take this cup from me"? (and immediately followed it with "But not my will, but yours be done.") Sometimes we ask for things we know we won't get - In Christ's example, I think it was simply a demonstration of human emotion. After all, if you knew you were going to be beaten, tortured, mocked and crucified I suspect you'd express similar sentiments (I know I would.)

I think the question is more rightly phrased "Why don't we pray with the power of the early church?" How many of us pray for healing and see it? Regularly? Or pray for other needs - jobs, marriages, wisdom, guidance and get clear answers? Not me. The thing is I REALLY want to see those things - and I believe they are available to us.

I also believe that God is not a cosmic sugar-daddy. We have a word for children that get everything they ask for whenever they ask: spoiled. Why? Because they begin to think that their wants are inalienable rights. And what happens when they don't get what they want? Meltdown. (I know you Harry Potter fans are thinking "Dudley Dursely" and you'd be right.) So where does that leave us?

Here's where I start climbing up the turnbuckle to jump from the top rope. I only hope the gambit works: I'm pretty sure there is a complex interaction between making the right requests and fully understanding the "spirit of power, love and self-discipline" (2 Timothy 1:7). These are both firmly intertwined with what the meaning of "faith" is, as well, so we have a pretty big knot to untangle.

It seems lame to say "your prayers weren't answered because you didn't ask for the right thing." First, it feels like a cop out. Second - sometimes we're genuinely asking for something God says he'll give - e.g. wisdom, guidance, daily bread. So I'm not sure that asking for the right thing is at the heart of the question. Finally, if we know we're going to get something (or not get something), the asking is of a different quality. There's everything from the polite: "Please pass the peas, please" variety, to the mostly ridiculous "Please send me a Porsche today."

But what of the sincere request? Here's where I step up to the second rope - and end with what the apostle James tells us:

"When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." (James 4:3)

"And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up." (James 5:15)

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (James 5:16b)

"Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." (James 5:17-18)

So James seems to give some indication both of why a prayer isn't answered (or even worse, isn't prayed!) and that prayer will be answered - at least under some conditions. So maybe our strategy will be more fruitful if instead of asking "why ISN'T my prayer answered", we ask "why it IS." That is, what made Elijah's prayers successful, when mine seem to be less so (or at the very least, less powerful.)

Next time: I step up to the top rope and take the big leap. Will I land a blow against my opponent or land on face? You make the call. Are we any closer to answers or have we just added more questions? Are we walking the line or the circle? Let me know.

One last thing to keep in mind: I think the purpose of prayer is less about getting what we ask for than about building our relationship with God. (see previous posts) Still, we can't divorce James' words from that underlying purpose...my head hurts, but I'm still on my feet...