Why Do We Pray?
Why do we pray? Many of us pray when there are tragedies, serious illness, sometimes pending death, and other matters beyond our direct ability to fix. Do we pray in hope or hopelessness? Is prayer our way of asking for help when we are forced to admit we cannot do anything? How often is our prayer nothing more than a glorified wish? Or motivated by desperation when all else has failed?
Given that God is our heavenly Daddy, I cannot quarrel with such prayers; they are typical of children who frequently ask their parents for the things they want. How often, I wonder, is our praying just Christians going through the motions? How many of us have such fear of God that we expect only bad things, as if he were an abusive parent tormenting his children? Do others of us pray without much genuine expectation because we see ourselves as unworthy, bad children who will only get coal in their stockings?
I sat in a Biggby’s coffee shop and settled into a feeling of hopelessness because my laptop was quickly becoming unusable, shortly after booting up. I was sure it was dying. Although finances are slowly improving, I couldn’t afford to replace it or maybe even repair it, right now. Was it some weird virus, or was something basic beginning to fail? Can I pray for God to “heal” a computer? I didn’t. I did finally uninstall the updated antivirus program; and, not only did the problems go away, but the laptop began to run better than it had in months. Apparently, the earlier version was interfering with the operating system, too.
It struck me that I often fail to pray, even as the thought comes to mind, because I’ve already decided it “won’t work.” Is it strange to pray for a laptop? Maybe it’s better to pray for oneself in trying to guess what’s wrong with it, but certainly praying is always appropriate. The car is getting old. Will it last another winter? If not, what will happen? Do I pray for another car? Do I pray for this car to last? Does God care about my need for transportation? My laptop? Maybe it’s my problem, not his. If it’s my responsibility, then why pray?
Was life easier when people only needed to pray for obvious necessities—food, protection, shelter, healing? We have so many things that we feel we need, but we won’t die without them. Yet, we work for those things, and our work requires cars and laptops and capital investments. We should pray for one, even as we pray for the other. God may say no at any stage, for reasons he holds in his wisdom; but he never says no because he doesn’t care. He never says no because we aren’t good enough; his love and grace always motivate his response, along with his wisdom.
James says, “You have not because you don’t ask. You ask and don’t receive because you seek to satisfy your lust.” Jesus promised so plainly, “Ask and it will be given…seek and you will find.” I am so grateful that God understands my reluctance and graciously responds to my need, even when I don’t ask, often because I doubt my worthiness. I wish I could be more “childlike” and just bug my heavenly father with every innocent thing I might wish. Somehow, I suspect that kind of praying would please Him, even more than our frantic, desperate requests for intervention when things go bad.