Hopeless Prayer
July 24th 2007 00:18
The timing of this post couldn't be any better or worse. In my lighter moments, I see it as being terribly ironic. In my not particularly light moments, I see it as simply terrible.
A few days ago, God asked me a question. He does this alot. People say that when God is asking you a question, He is not looking for information, because He needs to know something (though the thought of God saying "Hey Josh, how does such and such a thing work again?" me answering and Him saying "Right, thanks for that." does make me smile) but sometimes to see how we react. The question He asked me was if I thought any prayer was completely hopeless. I've been thinking about it alot over the past couple of days, and my thought has been rather focussed on the basis that my Grandmother on my Dad's side is dying.
Personally speaking, I don't think any prayer is hopeless. Even the ones that aren't answered. Or at least, aren't answered in the way we want. I know a girl from church that lost her own Grandmother last year. She called me, and essentially let me have the both barrels that I assume she also gave to God. "What use is faith? Why do we pray for this? Why did it not happen?" Honestly, these aren't questions I can answer. Do I think that any prayer is in vain? No, I don't. I speak as someone that has had prayers answered and as someone that has had to wait, and sometimes even not see any result. Natalie is more than an answer to my prayers and waiting for her was worth it. I have also been healed of a recurring medical condition after years of prayer and a few rounds of surgery and medication which would only fix the pain. I've also had things completely fall through. I've had to pay for costly repairs on my car, visit doctors and get medication, not be able to find things when I need them and even sometimes not get the results that I want from things that I put my heart into. But do I believe that these prayers were hopeless? No, I really don't. I can't let myself believe that.
There is a section in Dostoyevsky's novel, The Brothers Karamazov that I have in mind right now. The character speaking is an elderly monk, known as Elder Zosima and he is on his death bed. This section did make me cry a few times, as it is so beautiful and uplifting. Most classical Russian novels are like this. But he speaks of prayer and tells us to pray for the souls of the departed, because we can never know the power or the influence of our prayers, that we can never allow ourselves to think they are worthless. I cannot believe in contradiction to this. Even with my sarcasm and dash of cynicism that I have, I have never found a reason to believe that my prayers are hopeless echoes to an empty void.
Every prayer I have ever said, whether it was answered or not I believe had some kind of significance. I may not have seen the result, or I may have only seen that there was no result. Faith means to walk by what we cannot see. My hope in this cannot be compromised. I believe completely in the power of my God, and that He answers prayer. If He does not, then He does not exist. If my prayers are answered how I want them to be, then all well and good. But if they are not, my faith will not be compromised. I know Him far too well to be simply a mercenary.
JZ
A few days ago, God asked me a question. He does this alot. People say that when God is asking you a question, He is not looking for information, because He needs to know something (though the thought of God saying "Hey Josh, how does such and such a thing work again?" me answering and Him saying "Right, thanks for that." does make me smile) but sometimes to see how we react. The question He asked me was if I thought any prayer was completely hopeless. I've been thinking about it alot over the past couple of days, and my thought has been rather focussed on the basis that my Grandmother on my Dad's side is dying.
Personally speaking, I don't think any prayer is hopeless. Even the ones that aren't answered. Or at least, aren't answered in the way we want. I know a girl from church that lost her own Grandmother last year. She called me, and essentially let me have the both barrels that I assume she also gave to God. "What use is faith? Why do we pray for this? Why did it not happen?" Honestly, these aren't questions I can answer. Do I think that any prayer is in vain? No, I don't. I speak as someone that has had prayers answered and as someone that has had to wait, and sometimes even not see any result. Natalie is more than an answer to my prayers and waiting for her was worth it. I have also been healed of a recurring medical condition after years of prayer and a few rounds of surgery and medication which would only fix the pain. I've also had things completely fall through. I've had to pay for costly repairs on my car, visit doctors and get medication, not be able to find things when I need them and even sometimes not get the results that I want from things that I put my heart into. But do I believe that these prayers were hopeless? No, I really don't. I can't let myself believe that.
There is a section in Dostoyevsky's novel, The Brothers Karamazov that I have in mind right now. The character speaking is an elderly monk, known as Elder Zosima and he is on his death bed. This section did make me cry a few times, as it is so beautiful and uplifting. Most classical Russian novels are like this. But he speaks of prayer and tells us to pray for the souls of the departed, because we can never know the power or the influence of our prayers, that we can never allow ourselves to think they are worthless. I cannot believe in contradiction to this. Even with my sarcasm and dash of cynicism that I have, I have never found a reason to believe that my prayers are hopeless echoes to an empty void.
Every prayer I have ever said, whether it was answered or not I believe had some kind of significance. I may not have seen the result, or I may have only seen that there was no result. Faith means to walk by what we cannot see. My hope in this cannot be compromised. I believe completely in the power of my God, and that He answers prayer. If He does not, then He does not exist. If my prayers are answered how I want them to be, then all well and good. But if they are not, my faith will not be compromised. I know Him far too well to be simply a mercenary.
JZ
| 55 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by DJDazz
No prayer is ever hopeless. People (not you) have a misconception about faith. They believe Faith is based on an action, ie faith to be healed, faith to receive as life partner, faith to receive provision. I am not knocking this as God does meet us at where we are. However this is infantile faith if it remains there.
Faith is in a person. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God (as said by Apostle Peter). The by product of which is my Healing, my Provision and my Wife.
Faith is Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego saying to Nebuchadnezzar that "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" (Daniel 3)
The faith was placed in God and His ability to save not in God's predictive or definitive actions.
So why pray if that is the case?
I have always taken prayer to be communication with God to know Him. If that is the case then by prayer I am getting to know Him better and Love Him more. By prayer I know more of how much love He has for me and boy does that change me.
By my prayers I also please God because of our continuously growing relationship.
I believe that praying earnestly about a specific thing does not change God's opinion or actions (He is after all never changing) but it does give me a different and larger view of God in my life. It reveals more to me about my Saviour.
My 2c's
Dazz
Comment by DuskDevi
Rucks and Rolls
Rugby World Cup 2007
Your third paragraph...it hurts to read this...but this whole post is lovely...just lovely...
Faith is a constant, open telephone line with a strong signal...
Prayer is making the call.
...sometimes the call gets answered....sometimes not but the phone is never busy. And the line is always open.
...sorry...it's almost 3am...I must go to sleep now...
I hope you are as well as can be my friend...
much warmth
Dusk
Comment by Marti
Christian Revolution
Thank you for being so open,
~Marti
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
Good to see you on here. To be honest, I am very careful with saying that I undersand anything perfectly. There is always something more to learn about stuff. I have only a limited human understanding of things.
What you've said about faith though is true. We don't just believe in a thing or a force. Even The Force (well, I DO Hope that Jedi exist and will let me join them. Or at least give me a lightsabre). We believe in something that is very much like a person, and at the same time, is completely different to a person.
Ahhhhh, the paradox of christianity.
Good to see ya mate.
JZ
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
I am glad that you liked it. The things that open our heart often cause them to grow as well.
I'm doing well. It's my dad and his brother that I would be more concerned over.
I am always glad to see you drop by Dusk.
JZ
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
I read your blog and I believe in a similar fashion to you.
Openning the heart and letting people SEE what God does, who He is in us, THAT is how christians should evangelise.
"At all times, preach the Gospel. If needs be, use words." - St Francis of Assisi
Hope to see you more often.
JZ
.
Comment by Marti
Christian Revolution
That is my favorite saying of all times!
Thanks for your blog. It uplifts and refreshes me...
~Marti
Comment by Winston
Small Thoughts on Big Questions
This post does raise an interesting question for me, though. Namely, what is the value of prayer? More specifically, what is the value of intercessory prayer? If God is all powerful and all knowing and if he has some sort of master plan, as everyone seems to assume he does, then what good is prayer? If he already knows what is going to happen and he wanted to stop it, he could, without needing to be tapped on the shoulder. Then again, if it's all part of his grand scheme, then he's not going to change anything anyway. Or look at it this way: if God only answers some prayers some of the time, in a unfathomable fashion that replicates randomness, then what good is praying for anything? If the result looks like a random distribution then, for all practical purposes, it may as well be one, whether a deity is behind it or not. In that sense I do find that people who pray for things, hoping that their prayers will somehow actually affect a result, are offering up hopeless prayers.
If prayer is what DJDazz speaks of, just a conversation, then pray away. Even if no one is listening, there's no harm done if one is not expecting anything. But praying and wanting something to come of it? In my way of thinking, that time would be better spent looking for a solution to the issue, or talking to friends and family here. Just my 2 cents, of course.
Again, I hope for nothing but the best for you and your family during your difficult time.