Why Pray when some go unanswered?
This past weekend we were in some conversation about why some prayers go unanswered. We approached the question with the assumption that the prayers that were offered up were earnest, and prayed with at least the faith the size of a mustard seed. Because of the timing we could have talked more about prayers being answered in God’s time, the fact that if prayers were answered in the way we wanted we would miss out on something even better and a whole host of other questions and bits of the conversation. We may see some echos of these issues throughout the posts this week.
How to partner with God in answering prayer
We did however leave with the thought that we are all called to “Pray as though everything depends of God, and work as though everything depends on us.”
The goal being that we dream and pray Kingdom sized dreams and rest in the action of God, to move in powerful ways. At the same time we continue to work at doing our best to being about the Kingdom vision that we have as well. In partnering with God in this way we are able to make the greatest impact and live into the people that God has made us to be.
We pray because it changes things through partnering with God in bringing the Kingdom here on Earth so that we all may catch a glimpse of the promises awaiting us. We also know that prayer brings better focus to our lives. When we pray to be able to fully partner with God on an issue we are better prepared to cut the things that are not essential to that mission and vision.
There was a blog post a few weeks ago writing on Brian McLearen’s blog about this topic. Brian is the author of the book our GoodReads virtual small group is reading throughout this year. The book is calls “We make the road by walking,” and it is focused on reviving a vibrant faith. Here is a snippet of Brian’s response to a question about why we pray (I would encourage you to read the whole post here:
Books have been written, and more need to be written, on this question. (A few books down the road, I plan to address this as part or a larger book on “what we mean when we say ‘God.'”)
The underlying issue – that you address in your note – is called “the agency of God.” One way I often address the issue is to ask, “What kind of relationship do we think the Creator wants to have with creation?”
1. One option is “the outsider with intervention privileges.” This is the traditional option that so many people – you and I included – find massive problems with. Prayer is our way of begging for intervention.
2. Another option is “the outsider with absolute control.” This is the option of predestinarian determinism (i.e. neo-calvinism).
3. A third option is “the outsider with no intervention privileges.” This is the option of deism. It solves some problems of the previous views, but leaves other problems unaddressed.
4. Another option is “the insider with no influence.” I sense that some people end up here as a way of escaping 1-3 above.
5. Another option is “an insider with influence.” This is in keeping with God revealed in Jesus … incarnational, suffering and rejoicing with creation, recruiting us to join with God in the healing of the world. Prayer in this sense is, in essence, aligning our wills/desires with God’s will/desires. That’s a different kind of relationships than 1-4, and it means that prayer is significant … but it’s not a matter of outside intervention.
That certainly doesn’t solve the problem or answer every question, but I hope it at least stimulates your thinking and proves helpful in some way.
Find the whole post here: http://brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/q-r-why-pray.html
What are your thought on prayer or reflections about why you pray?