By Connie Pryce
Prayer has always puzzled me in many ways, and reading numerous books on the subject hasn’t answered all that many questions. I can’t help but believe that others may have some of the same questions but are perhaps afraid to ask.
I have learned, sometimes the hard way, that I can’t bend God to my will no matter what I do, but I still have questions. The question arises, “Why pray at all?” If God has our destiny in His hands, will our praying change it? Will I be kept from an accident if I pray before I set out? Suppose I do have an accident, will the prayers of others keep me alive? How many others? If I die, is it because not enough people prayed or that the “pray-ers” didn’t have enough faith? I don’t know the answers to these questions. What I do know is that God told us to pray and gave us a brief pattern prayer and also the great example of His own prayer in John 17. We may never know the answers to why God seems to answer some prayers and not others. I’ve often heard the glib remark that God always answers our prayers, but sometimes it is a no. That, to me, is not a satisfying answer. How do we know if it is no or if we’re just supposed to keep praying? How do we know the answer when it comes?
Perhaps we have a major misunderstanding of what prayer is. Perhaps we need to think of prayer in a completely different way. One thing I’ve learned about prayer is that we are far better off if our prayers are two-way conversations with God. So often we rattle off our request list and then hope it all goes our way. The problem with one-way prayer is that we never know when the answer comes. The key is taking our time to listen to God. That can only be accomplished by quieting ourselves before Him–talking to Him and listening for His response. He will not drop the answer into our laps, but He is there for those who will listen. Did you ever meet a person with whom it was almost impossible to have a conversation? All they do is talk. They give you their tale of woe or all the latest detailed news about family and friends you have never met. They ask questions but never give you a chance to answer. There may be legitimate reasons for a person’s nonstop talking at times, and it’s good to let a friend unload. Thankfully, the Lord lets us do that with Him if need be. But many of the gabbers are simply self-centered people who are far more concerned with their own wants and needs, than anyone else’s. Do you think maybe sometimes God must experience the same thing when we call on Him in prayer? He is ready to answer if we give him a chance. Or he may want us to keep praying for a time, but the key seems to be giving Him the time to make His will known to us by directing our thoughts toward Him or, perhaps leading us to a particular scripture, so we can recognize the answer when it comes. Even though we may never fully understand prayer, it can be our greatest resource and comfort—if we allow it to be.