Maybe at least part of our problem is in praying for wrong things. If that is the case, then I certainly begin to see how praying could be confusing. When we are wrong-headed in what we ask, we can hardly blame God for failing to answer. Let me try to make sense of what I am struggling to say.

Peter and John were called before the religious authorities of Jerusalem in the earliest days of Christianity. They were ordered to stop preaching about Jesus in the city. They were, in fact, threatened that bad things would come down on them if they didn’t stop. Duly warned, they were released.

When the two men got back with their friends, they reported everything that had happened. Then they prayed. "And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness ..." (Acts 4:29 NRS)

My fear is that I would have prayed for something different! For the officials to back off? Sure. For divine protection from them? Absolutely. For a “new call” for my ministry? Perhaps. But they prayed neither for protection nor a new assignment. They prayed for boldness to say what Jesus had told them to say.

I would have prayed for something different!

Maybe you and I shouldn’t pray for more money and things; let’s pray instead for the ability to appreciate what we have, manage it wisely, and use it generously. Maybe we should pray less to have our life-annoyances taken away; instead, pray for patience and to realize that God’s grace is sufficient, no matter what. Maybe we even should pray less about good health and success; we might pray rather to be content, dignified, and courageous in coping with our lot in life.

It’s certainly within God’s will to pray for daily bread and deliverance from trials. The Lord’s Prayer models as much for us. But even Jesus prayed for things in Gethsemane that he qualified with "not my will but yours be done."

Sometimes God’s will is better served by one of his people bearing a cross with courage than by having her problem vanish. That’s why we seek to surrender to his will over our own. That’s why we accept the mystery inherent in his will.

At the end of the day, I should probably worry less about understanding the nature of prayer and simply pray.

 

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© 2005 Used by permission. From Rubel Shelly's "FAX of Life" printed each Tuesday. See Faith Matters for previous issues of the "FAX of Life."

Title: "They Prayed for Boldness"
Author: Rubel Shelly
Publication Date: November 15, 2005

The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists by Ravi Zacharias Zacharias cuts to the core of the atheist problem and presents a case for truth resolving itself in a presentation of God in the person of Jesus Christ as the intelligence behind the universe, and the end (the culmination, not the cessation) of reason.

Rubel Shelly preached for the Woodmont Hills Churchin Nashville for thirty years. He is the author of more than 20 books. He has accepted the position of President of Rochester College. For more details, click here or here to email.

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