In His Name Devotionals
WHY PRAY?
In His Name Devotionals
WHY PRAY?
In Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch," Ivan endures all the horrors of a Soviet prison camp. One day he is praying with his eyes closed when a fellow prisoner notices him and says with ridicule, "Prayers won't help you get out of here any faster." Opening his eyes, Ivan answers, "I do not pray to get out of prison but to do the will of God."
Prayer is not manipulating God to get what we want, but discovering what He wants us to do, and then asking the Holy Spirit to enable us to do His will.
True enough, the Word of God invites us to pray about our circumstances. And in certain instances those circumstances will be altered in response to our prayers. Thus we pray for the sick to be healed or for a struggling marriage to endure. We pray for rain during droughts. And we pray for our children to be spared temptation or harm.
More important than the power of prayer to change circumstances, however, is its power to change the person who prays. Every Ivan prays to be released from unjust suffering, to be vindicated, to be allowed to resume a normal life. But Ivan, Paul, and Jesus all lived in a world which too often witnesses the crucifixion of innocent persons.
If prayer served as a guarantee of changed circumstances, none of us would ever get sick, be without a job of choice, go broke, or endure heartache. Furthermore, nobody we love would have less than the most desirable mate, job, or lifestyle.
But if prayer worked only as a means to alter our circumstances for the better, it would be an evil power to possess. It would corrupt us, making us shamelessly selfish. It would reduce the God of the universe to a genie who grants wishes on demand.
More often than not, one's life circumstances will not be changed simply because they are unpleasant. Perhaps they are serving a purpose we cannot see at the time. Maybe they are humbling us, giving us the chance to prove that our faith is real by trusting God through the dark times. Sometimes they are the outcome of prior bad decisions. And surely they are occasionally nothing more or less than the indiscriminate challenge of living as vulnerable creatures in a fallen world.
Was Paul a good man? Did he pray intensely for his "thorn in the flesh" to be removed? Yet God chose not to change his circumstances but him! "My grace is sufficient for you," was the answer Paul received, "for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
What are you praying about today? Whatever it is, pray passionately and expectantly. But be aware that it may be you rather than your situation that most needs adjustment.
