The Omni/Prayer Pardox — a practical problem

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

via Luke 18 – ESVBible.org.

It really struck me, listening to sermon yesterday, that I need to pray more often and more passionately. So I’ve decided to do so.

But this parable was mentioned in a way that really brought home why, 1) some Christians find it difficult to pray often, and 2) when they do pray tend not to express their feelings about the issues in their lives that they are praying about.

The issue is simply this: the same belief that God is omnipotent and can do what we ask leads us to find it impossible to imagine that God can be “worn down” by our prayers. Why ask more than once? If God says “No” the first time, what could possibly change?

We infer from omnipotence that God is impervious.

We don’t pray as much as we should and when we do pray no one would ever guess it is to the same God who inspired the Psalms of David.

And I really don’t have much of an answer for how to handle this.

But two thoughts come to mind and I’ll throw them out for what they might be worth.

ONE: God seems more interested that we grow to trust in his empathy for us than in our belief that he is omnipotent.

I don’t mean that “omnipotence” is less important. I mean that it is actually the easier claim to believe. The other belief is a much more difficult one for us to hold to in sincerity. Notice that the challenge of the parable is to ask the disciples not whether or not God is able to deliver but whether or not he is willing.

TWO: We learn to pray from examples and practice, not from premisses by which we deduce how we should behave.

A bare belief in God’s omnipotence simply does not automatically deliver the prayer life of David or anyone else int he Bible. And teaching the proposition is not going to lead to right worship or prayer. You have to look at what God upholds as a healthy prayer life and you have to emulate it. You have to show it to your children and/or anyone else you are discipling. Just telling people God can do anything and that we have access to ask him for what we want will not be enough.

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