What's the Deal About Prayer?

I’m convinced that most people pray. Even people who do not consider themselves religious or even believe in God, given a certain situation, 99.9% of them will call out to God, which is what we call prayer. Now why is this? I mean, if there’s no one up there, why do we do it? I think it’s because it’s built into us. We just somehow think there has got to be somebody, somewhere higher than ourselves that can help us. And it stands to reason to me, that if this instinct, that is such a basic part of our nature, exists in us, there must be a somebody, somewhere available to fill this need. We have a strong instinct to eat, and what do you know, we find food on this earth available for eating. The same with water. We have an instinct for sex and relationships, and here we are with people around us who can fill those needs.

Now, this certainly isn’t the last word on prayer, nor does it even begin to touch on the problems people have with prayer. I think there are a lot of misconceptions about prayer. Like, what about all those times God doesn’t answer your prayer? First of all, maybe he did and the answer was no. But beyond that, is the idea that somehow God is that magic genie in the sky that when you put in your request, presto, out comes what you want, just like a gum-ball machine.

As you can imagine, the Bible has a lot to say about prayer. And it does say, “Let your requests be made known to God.” But there are also a lot of other reasons for prayer. First of all, if you would like to have a relationship with someone, you have to talk to them once in awhile. As women, this shouldn’t be hard for us.

Secondly, prayer is a wonderful way to let God know what we think of him—that we honor him and lift him up. He likes that. Is that because he is prideful and egocentric? No, he likes to hear us say nice things about him, just like we do, when our children say nice things about us. Does that make us prideful and egocentric? No, it just makes us love our children more.

And thirdly, and this is the hard one, God wants us to pray, so that we can align ourselves with HIS will for us. Now, here again, we have to go back to who do you think is smarter, you or God. If you think you are smarter and know better what you want than He does, fine—go ahead and do it. Just be prepared for the worst or at the very least, less than the best. I have a friend who used to say “You don’t break God’s laws, you break yourself against them.”

In my life, I have spent years praying for something and refusing to hear God’s “No.” I thought I knew best, so I acted on my desires and not on God’s good advice. The day I finally accepted his “No,” was the day I found freedom and peace. The next most important day was the day I surrendered to his will for my life. This sounds life-changing and dramatic, and it was, but it occurred on an ordinary night, sitting up in my bed, and saying, “Okay, Lord, from now on, I want only what you want for me, show me what you have planned for the rest of my life.” One month later he began the process of giving me the desires of my heart.

Many years ago, when I was a new Christian, I heard a lady tell a story that has stuck with me ever since. Perhaps this will be meaningful to you. She and her husband had promised their two young sons that they would take them on the train to the San Diego Zoo. They lived in Orange County, and there was a train that traveled to the zoo on a regular basis. At that time, where they lived, there were long stretches of farms growing produce of various kinds.  Each day, as she drove her sons to school they would pass by the fields and off in the distance was a large packing shed near a railroad spur line, on which sat a couple of boxcars being loaded for market.

And each day, as they went by the field and saw the the shed and the boxcars, the boys would cry out, “Look, Mommy, there’s the train to San Diego!” And she would explain, “No, Honey, that’s not the train.” But everyday they would cry again and again, “Yes, Mommy, that’s the train, that’s the train we want. Please, please, let us go on that train.”

She couldn’t seem to make them understand. But one day, she and her husband loaded them into the car and took them to the Santa Ana train station, where they all got on the train that took them to San Diego.

Now if this mother had answered the prayers and pleadings of her boys the way they wanted them answered, they would have been sitting in a boxcar in the middle of a field going nowhere. But because she and her husband loved their children and understood more than they did, they knew how to truly give them the desires of their hearts.

For many years I had on my refrigerator a picture of a rainbow, drawn by my then-teen-aged daughter, and underneath it she had written this verse. It still speaks to me today:

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 37:4

Sharon