Okay, so if God still does miracles (and He does), how do we get in on that? Is that what prayer is for? Do we pray in order to get God to show us some of His fancy stuff? From the sound of it, that’s how lots of people approach this thing called prayer.
But that kind of praying puts you in a tough spot. If you get what you want, then prayer works. But if you don’t get what you want, then what? Did you get the sequence wrong? You put the change in the slot, pressed the button and nothing came out. Did God just eat your pound?!
Sometimes people quit praying because God didn’t do a miracle for them. Most of us are too religious (or maybe superstitious) to stop praying altogether. We may not be completely convinced that it works every time, but what if it works this time? Maybe it’s every other request or some other intricate pattern. How it works or why it works — who knows? But it’s better to have it close by just in case, like a rabbit’s foot or a four-leaf clover.
One other thing that’s really confusing. Have you ever noticed that God sometimes answers a small prayer and ignores a larger one? Maybe you had a friend who went without a job for a long time. You prayed and prayed and prayed and nothing happened. But your Aunt Edna often asks God to help her find her keys and it always works! Ask God to heal your sick mother and she might get worse. Ask Him to cure AIDS or end world hunger, and nothing happens. But ask Him to help you get a parking spot near the front of the store, lo and behold!
What are we to make of all this? Is there some hidden secret? Is there a requisite level of faith required? Is it about saying the right words in the right way with the right feeling?
You’ve seen those guys on TV in their expensive suits and bad hair, shouting and crying and wiping the sweat from their faces and pounding on big black Bibles. They’re on nearly every night, standing in front of crowds numbering in the thousands, building them into a fever pitch, yelling about faith and what faith does and how if they have enough faith they’ll be wealthy and healthy.
What do you do with the idea that people in wheelchairs are there because they lack the faith to stand up and walk? Jesus said, “You just need faith the size of a mustard seed” (Mt 17:20). That’s not much faith at all, you’d think they could muster up at least a mustard seed’s worth!
One time a guy came to Jesus and said, “If you can do anything, will you help my son?”
Jesus said, “What do you mean, if? Don’t you believe?”
The guy said, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mk 9:14-29).
That’s where most of us live, on both sides of the semicolon. We do believe; but we don’t believe all that much.
But is that really the key to getting God to do a miracle for us? Do we have to muster up some kind of confidence or bravado before God will give us what we want? That can’t be right, can it?
Here’s a more important question. What if none of this is the point of prayer to begin with? What if prayer isn’t about getting in on God’s miraculous activity? Or what if that’s just one tiny part of prayer? How tragic would it be to spend your entire life thinking that one tiny part of prayer was all there was to it?
Miracles are never meant to be ends in and of themselves. Miracles are meant to point beyond themselves to the Miracle Worker. What makes a real difference in our lives is not how much miraculous activity we experience. What makes a real difference is how well we know the One to whom these miracles point.
That makes all the difference in the world.
Prayer
God of grace and glory, in Christ You have welcomed me into the profound intimacy of the “You in me and I in You” relationship. I want to want You more than anything else, and I realise that I can never really know You apart from spending time in Your presence and welcoming You into each of the facets of my life. May I come to see the reading of Your Word and prayer as profound vehicles for real communication with You. May I never resort to using prayer in an attempt to get You to do what I want. Instead, I desire to see prayer as a means to intimacy with You and of learning how to align myself with Your will for my life. May I learn to listen to Your voice and to be responsive to the subtle prompting of Your Holy Spirit so that I will live in the fullness of Your presence.
In Jesus’s name, Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment