How does prayer work?
A lot of people come to me with this question. I have given it a lot of thought. I don’t have all the answers but I do have
some insights to help you understand your relationship with God.
Most of us Europeans and Americans are used to a consumerist
culture. We ask, we pay, we
receive. When you go to a nice
restaurant on St. Barth’s, you order…you tell the waitress or waiter what you
want and they prepare the food and bring it to you. Like the small vending machine at St. Jean
that was installed just off the beach this year, we put in our order, press the
button, and get what we asked for.
Most people who come to me asking about prayer come because
they expected that their relationship with God would be similar to the consumer
relationship. We ask God for what we
want and God gives it to us. When I
explain about waiting for the answer, that God does not work on our timetable,
people understand that, but they still think that the relationship is similar
to all others in their consumerist life.
They want to put in a request to God and expect God to grant that
request and when things don’t work that simply they wonder…
A.
If God cares at all
B.
If God is punishing them
C.
If there is no God
But the fault lies in the understanding we have of
prayer. Prayer is not a one sided
relationship where God has promised to bring us whatever we ask for. We are not the boss of prayer. We are not the consumer. We are not the
customer.
God does promise us that if we ask, we will receive. But God likens us to a child asking for
something that it believes it needs. God
is like the parent, wanting to make the child happy but also wanting to keep
the child safe and understanding so much more than the child. In other words,
God knows a lot more than we do. A lot
more. And God will answer our prayers
from an eternal perspective, not a perspective of instant gratification.
Let me say that again because it is important. God will answer our prayers from an eternal perspective,
not a perspective of instant gratification.
On Friday night, Louise and Herb Rust invited us to their
villa for scrabble and ice cream. No
sane person could say no to such an invitation.
Jacob, Max, JD and I were thrilled to come.
When we arrived, we were greeted by the most beautiful little
dog. A Pomeranian named Dasher, the tiny
dog had a leg that just stuck out straight.
Louise explained to us that the dog had been abused as a puppy and had
to have multiple surgeries before they adopted him. He seemed so happy and so friendly that all
of this was hard to believe.
When we went to the table to play and eat snacks and ice
cream, the little dog came inside too.
Louise explained that when they first adopted Dasher, he would not come
to the table when they ate. So her friend advised her to give him what she
called “an essence” of food. Just a
taste, not too much for Dasher is tiny and can’t handle too much food. But a
small taste, to let him know that he is safe and he is welcome. And now, when he comes to the foot of the
table, he waits patiently for his essence.
If you read the gospel carefully, after Jesus says Ask and
you will receive, Seek and you will find, he says…If you who are evil know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask him…
If you pray, you will receive the Holy Spirit.
If you pray, you will receive the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not a tame answer, it is living
answer. It is ever changing and evolving. You could say that it is the essence of God,
a taste of something much greater than anything that you can ask for.
I apologize for comparing us to dogs but when we think of our
conversations with the Maker of the Universe, it is not such a bad analogy. Like Dasher, we can’t understand very much
about what’s good for us and we may ask for something that won’t do us any good
at all.
How does prayer work?
It is mysterious relationship that develops between you and God when you
come to God’s table again and again, asking for a wild variety of things, and
God gives you His essence. And, though
we may not understand it in this life, I think one day, we will see that God
gave us exactly what we needed.
