DOES PRAYER MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?
There is an immense difference between a worldview that is not able to
answer every question to complete satisfaction and one whose answers are
consistently contradictory. There is an even greater difference between
answers that contain paradoxes and those that are systemically
irreconcilable.
Once again, the Christian faith stands out as unique in this test, both as
a system of thought and in the answers it gives. Christianity does not
promise that you will have every question fully answered to your
satisfaction before you die, but the answers it gives are consistently
consistent. There may be paradoxes within Christian teaching and belief,
but they are not irreconcilable. To those who feel that Christianity has
failed them because of prayers that went unanswered, it is important to
realize what I am saying here.
I sat with a man in my car, talking about a series of heartbreaks he had
experienced. "There were just a few things I had wanted in life," he
said. "None of them have turned out the way I had prayed. I wanted my
parents to live until I was at least able to stand on my own and they
could watch my children grow up. It didn't happen. I wanted my marriage
to succeed, and it didn't. I wanted my children to grow up grateful for
what God had given them. That didn't happen. I wanted my business to
prosper, and it didn't. Not only have my prayers amounted to nothing; the
exact opposite has happened. Don't even ask me if you can pray for me. I
am left with no trust of any kind in such things."
I felt two emotions rising up within me as I listened. The first was one
of genuine sorrow. He felt that he had tried, that he had done his part,
but that God hadn't lived up to his end of the deal. The second emotion
was one of helplessness, as I wondered where to begin trying to help him.
These are the sharp edges of faith in a transcendent, all-powerful,
personal God. Most of us have a tendency to react with anger or
withdrawal when we feel God has let us down by not giving us things we
felt were legitimate to ask him for. We may feel guilty that our
expectations toward God were too great. We may feel that God has not
answered our prayers because of something lacking in ourselves. We may
compare ourselves with others whose every wish seems to be granted by God,
and wonder why he hasn't come through for us in the way he does for
others. And sometimes we allow this disappointment in God to fester and
eat away at our faith in him until the years go by and we find ourselves
bereft of belief.
G. K. Chesterton surmised that when belief in God becomes difficult, the
tendency is to turn away from him—but, in heaven's name, to what? To the
skeptic or the one who has been disappointed in his faith, the obvious
answer to Chesterton's question may be to give up believing that there's
somebody out there, take charge of your own life, and live it out to the
best of your own ability.
But Chesterton also wrote, "The real trouble with the world of ours is not
that it is an unreasonable world, nor even that it is a reasonable one.
The commonest kind of trouble is that it is nearly reasonable, but not
quite."(2) He is right. Only so much about life can be understood by
reason; so much falls far short of any reasonable explanation. Prayer
then becomes the irrepressible cry of the heart at the times we most need
it. For every person who feels that prayer has not "worked" for them and
has therefore abandoned God, there is someone else for whom prayer remains
a vital part of her life, sustaining her even when her prayers have gone
unanswered, because her belief and trust is not only in the power of
prayer but in the character and wisdom of God. God is the focus of such
prayer, and that is what sustains such people and preserves their faith.
Prayer is far more complex than some make it out to be. There is much
more involved than merely asking for something and receiving it. In this,
as in other contexts, we too often succumb to believing that something is
what it never was, even when we know it cannot be as simple as we would
like to think it is.
answer every question to complete satisfaction and one whose answers are
consistently contradictory. There is an even greater difference between
answers that contain paradoxes and those that are systemically
irreconcilable.
Once again, the Christian faith stands out as unique in this test, both as
a system of thought and in the answers it gives. Christianity does not
promise that you will have every question fully answered to your
satisfaction before you die, but the answers it gives are consistently
consistent. There may be paradoxes within Christian teaching and belief,
but they are not irreconcilable. To those who feel that Christianity has
failed them because of prayers that went unanswered, it is important to
realize what I am saying here.
I sat with a man in my car, talking about a series of heartbreaks he had
experienced. "There were just a few things I had wanted in life," he
said. "None of them have turned out the way I had prayed. I wanted my
parents to live until I was at least able to stand on my own and they
could watch my children grow up. It didn't happen. I wanted my marriage
to succeed, and it didn't. I wanted my children to grow up grateful for
what God had given them. That didn't happen. I wanted my business to
prosper, and it didn't. Not only have my prayers amounted to nothing; the
exact opposite has happened. Don't even ask me if you can pray for me. I
am left with no trust of any kind in such things."
I felt two emotions rising up within me as I listened. The first was one
of genuine sorrow. He felt that he had tried, that he had done his part,
but that God hadn't lived up to his end of the deal. The second emotion
was one of helplessness, as I wondered where to begin trying to help him.
These are the sharp edges of faith in a transcendent, all-powerful,
personal God. Most of us have a tendency to react with anger or
withdrawal when we feel God has let us down by not giving us things we
felt were legitimate to ask him for. We may feel guilty that our
expectations toward God were too great. We may feel that God has not
answered our prayers because of something lacking in ourselves. We may
compare ourselves with others whose every wish seems to be granted by God,
and wonder why he hasn't come through for us in the way he does for
others. And sometimes we allow this disappointment in God to fester and
eat away at our faith in him until the years go by and we find ourselves
bereft of belief.
G. K. Chesterton surmised that when belief in God becomes difficult, the
tendency is to turn away from him—but, in heaven's name, to what? To the
skeptic or the one who has been disappointed in his faith, the obvious
answer to Chesterton's question may be to give up believing that there's
somebody out there, take charge of your own life, and live it out to the
best of your own ability.
But Chesterton also wrote, "The real trouble with the world of ours is not
that it is an unreasonable world, nor even that it is a reasonable one.
The commonest kind of trouble is that it is nearly reasonable, but not
quite."(2) He is right. Only so much about life can be understood by
reason; so much falls far short of any reasonable explanation. Prayer
then becomes the irrepressible cry of the heart at the times we most need
it. For every person who feels that prayer has not "worked" for them and
has therefore abandoned God, there is someone else for whom prayer remains
a vital part of her life, sustaining her even when her prayers have gone
unanswered, because her belief and trust is not only in the power of
prayer but in the character and wisdom of God. God is the focus of such
prayer, and that is what sustains such people and preserves their faith.
Prayer is far more complex than some make it out to be. There is much
more involved than merely asking for something and receiving it. In this,
as in other contexts, we too often succumb to believing that something is
what it never was, even when we know it cannot be as simple as we would
like to think it is.
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