Experimenting With Prayer
We pray for all sorts of reasons. When we've done something wrong,
we may unburden our conscience by confessing our sin to God. When we're
grateful for some blessing, we may offer up a prayer of thanksgiving. When
we're contemplating God's work in creation, we may offer up a prayer of worship
or adoration. But one reason that almost all of us pray is to ask God for
something. Granted, we may often do this selfishly, or foolishly, or with all
manner of wrong motives. But the thing itself, our making requests of God, is a
perfectly legitimate thing to do. Indeed, when Jesus taught his disciples to
pray, he taught them (among other things) to make requests, such as "Give us
each day our daily bread" (Lk. 11:3).
Although heaven undoubtedly receives millions of requests
each day, there's possibly none more common than that which asks God for
healing. While I was writing this article, my father was admitted to the
critical care unit of a local hospital. Each day, I (along with many other
Christians) prayed that he might be healed. But after two weeks, he went to be
with the Lord. Naturally, this raises a very serious question. Do our prayers really
make any difference, or are we just wasting our time?
Recently the New York Times ran a story with an
intriguing title: "Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer".{1}
"Prayers offered by strangers," the story began, "had no effect on the recovery
of people who were undergoing heart surgery. . . . And patients who knew they
were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like
abnormal heart rhythms." What are we to make of this? Are prayers for healing
to no avail? Might they even be counterproductive?
In a fascinating essay titled "The Efficacy of Prayer," C. S.
Lewis questioned the value of such experiments. He realized, of course, that
one could set up such an experiment and ask people to pray. But he doubted the wisdom
of it. "You must not try experiments on God, your Master," he wrote. He also
observed:
Simply to say prayers is not to
pray; otherwise a team of properly trained parrots would serve as well as men for
our experiment. . . . You are not doing it in order that suffering should be relieved;
you are doing it to find out what happens. The real purpose and the nominal
purpose of your prayers are at variance. . . . The experiment demands an
impossibility.{2}
Although on one level such experiments with prayer might be interesting,
nevertheless, for those who have witnessed dramatic answers to their prayers,
such studies aren't likely to be convincing. But can we know whether or
not prayer is really effective?
Providence or Coincidence?
A few years ago I was traveling to Kansas to attend a friend's
wedding. The sun was just about to set for the evening when I suddenly got a
flat tire. I pulled to the side of the road, got out, and prepared to change
the flat. I soon realized, however, that this was going to be a bit tricky. Although
I had a spare tire, I had no tools to change it!
Now there have been many times when this would have really
made me angry. But on this occasion, I simply bowed my head in prayer and asked
God for his help. I then sat down on the hood of my car to wait. I was a bit concerned
because I knew it would soon be dark. But since there wasn't anything that I
could do about that, I simply determined to trust the Lord.
In less than a minute, a friendly looking guy with
two kids pulled to the side of the road. I explained my situation, and before I
fully understood what was happening, he had his tools out and began to change
my tire for me. Within about five minutes I was back on the road, praising God
for his help in my time of need!
Now understandably, I looked upon this incident as a direct
answer to my prayer. But can I really know if this interpretation is correct?
Was it really God who helped me, in response to my prayer? Or would that
man have stopped and changed my tire anyway? Unfortunately, apart from God
telling me one way or another, there just doesn't seem to be any way to know
for sure.
But I don't think we should be troubled by this. The fact
that we can't prove a strict causal connection between what we ask God for
in prayer and what actually happens in the world shouldn't really surprise us. After
all, we can't always prove a causal connection between what we ask our
neighbor for and what actually happens! Your neighbor may feed your cat while
you're away on vacation because you asked. Then again, "Your neighbor may be a
humane person who would not have let your cat starve even if you had forgotten
to make any arrangements."{3}
Of course, it may sometimes be possible to prove a causal
connection between what I ask my neighbor and what he actually does. But this
isn't always the case. "Thus in some measure the same doubt that hangs
about the causal efficacy of our prayers to God hangs also about our prayers to
man. Whatever we get we might have been going to get anyway."{4} On the other
hand, the Bible also assures us that sometimes we don't have because we don't
ask (James 4:2). So in the end, we may just have to learn to live with a bit of
mystery about our prayers.
Whatever We Ask?
The most radical promises about prayer found anywhere in
Scripture occur on the lips of Jesus. The nature of these promises is nothing
short of staggering. Just listen to what Jesus tells his disciples: "And I will
do whatever you ask in my name . . . . You may ask me for anything in my name,
and I will do it" (John 14:13-14). Or again, "I tell you the truth, my Father
will give you whatever you ask in my name" (John 16:23).
What are we to do with such incredible promises? On the
surface, Jesus seems to be saying that he or the Father will do whatever
the disciples ask. But is this really what Jesus meant? If so, it seems
to raise a very serious problem. After all, do we always get what we ask
for? And would it really be good if we did?
If my own experience can be trusted, then it seems to me
that Christian philosopher William Lane Craig is quite correct when he writes,
"If we are ruthlessly honest with ourselves, every one of us knows that
sometimes God does not answer our prayers."{5} Indeed, he continues, sometimes
God "cannot answer our prayers because Christians are praying for
contradictory things."{6} He asks us to imagine "two Christian athletes playing
on opposite sides in the Super Bowl . . . . Each would naturally be disposed to
pray that his team would win, and yet both prayers could not be answered, for
the two athletes would be praying for contradictory results."{7}
In addition, it's not very hard to think of examples in
which it might be unwise for God to give us whatever we ask. After all,
finite and fallible human beings are often inclined to ask God for rather
foolish things. It wouldn't always be best for God to give us whatever we requested.
For example, suppose a godly young man who desperately wants to serve the Lord
as a foreign missionary is praying that God will grant him a particular young
lady to be his wife. But suppose that this young lady has a passion to serve
the Lord here in some way. Finally, suppose that they would both be miserable
and spiritually unproductive if they married each other, but they would both be
deeply satisfied and productive in the work of the Lord if they each married
someone else. Would it really be wise for God to grant this young man's
request? It sure doesn't seem like it. Sometimes, as Garth Brooks observed, we
can all thank God for unanswered prayers!
Qualifying Christ's Promises, Pt. 1
But if all this is so, then what's become of Jesus' radical
promise to do whatever we ask in his name? It seems to me, quite simply, that
Jesus' promise must be qualified somehow. But is it really wise to tamper with
Scripture this way?
Let me suggest two responses to this. First, I think that
when his words are properly interpreted, Jesus himself qualifies his promises
right from the start. Second, the other qualifications I will mention are all
firmly rooted in the Scriptures. In other words, we won't be tampering with the
Bible. We'll rather be looking at its teachings to see if there are any
qualifications expressed elsewhere in its pages that might qualify Jesus'
promises in some way.
But let's go back to that first point. Notice what Jesus
says in John 14:13: "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son
may bring glory to the Father." Immediately we see that Jesus hasn't really
given a blanket promise to do whatever we ask. Rather, he's qualified his
promise to do whatever we ask in his name, so that the Son may bring glory
to the Father.
What does it mean to ask for something in Jesus' name?
Many people treat this phrase as something akin to a magical formula. By saying
the right words, in the proper sequence, they think that God is somehow obligated
to give them what they've asked for. But this is certainly not what
Jesus had in mind! Instead, to pray for something in Jesus' name is to
pray for something that's consistent with the character and purposes
of Christ in the world. As Merrill Tenney observes, "In prayer we call on him
to work out his purpose, not simply to gratify our whims. The answer is
promised so that the Son may bring glory to the Father."{8} So when Jesus
promises to do whatever we ask in his name, He's not promising to do
whatever we ask?period! He's qualified his promise to do whatever we ask that's
consistent with his character and purposes in the world.
But there's more. As we search the Scriptures we find yet
other principles that appear to qualify Jesus' promise. Dr. Craig mentions several
of these in his book Hard Questions, Real Answers.{9} For instance, our
requests might be denied because of unconfessed sin in our lives. The psalmist
wrote, "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened"
(Ps. 66:18). Further, our requests might also be denied if they arise from
impure motives. James states quite pointedly, "When you ask, you do not
receive, because you ask with wrong motives" (4:3).
Qualifying Christ's Promises, Pt. 2
What are some more reasons why our requests to God might
sometimes be denied?
First, our prayers may sometimes not be granted because of our
lack of faith. Jesus told his disciples, "Whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mk. 11:24). This verse
makes it clear that the Lord expects our prayers to be joined with faith in his
ability to grant them.
Second, as William Lane Craig observes, "Sometimes our
prayers are not answered because, quite frankly, we don't really care whether
they are."{10} This was certainly not the pattern of the great prayers
recorded in Scripture. Consider the example of Hannah, who prayed out of "great
anguish and grief" for a son (1 Sam. 1:16). Or Daniel, who upon learning from
the writings of Jeremiah the prophet "that the desolation of Jerusalem would
last seventy years . . . turned to the Lord . . . and pleaded with him in
prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes" (Dan. 9:2-3). If
we're honest, many of us would probably have to admit that our own prayers are often
just a pale reflection of the earnest examples we find in Scripture.
So too with perseverance in prayer. We tend to give up far
too quickly and easily. Apparently, things weren't much different in Jesus'
day. Indeed, he told his disciples the parable of the persistent widow "to show
them that they should always pray and not give up" (Luke 18:1).
These are a few more reasons why our prayers to God might not
be granted. But what if none of these reasons applies in our case? What if
we've confessed all known sin, our motives are pure, and we've prayed
earnestly, with perseverance, and in faith, and still our heartfelt requests to
God are denied? What should we conclude then? That God doesn't really care? Or
that he doesn't even exist?
Although we might be tempted to doubt God in such times,
it's important to remember one last qualification that the Bible puts on our
requests to God; namely, they must be consistent with his will. The apostle
John wrote that "if we ask anything according to his will . . . . we have what
we asked of him" (1 Jn. 5:14-15). But sometimes our requests to God just aren't
consistent with his will. In cases like these, although it may not be easy, we
need to trust that our loving heavenly Father really does know what's best and
that he can be counted on to do it. In other words, we may not always know his
mind, but we can always trust his heart.
Notes
- Benedict Carey, "Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer," The New York Times, March 31, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html?...5070.
- C. S. Lewis, "The Efficacy of Prayer," in The World's Last Night and Other Essays (New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1988), 6.
- Ibid.
- Ibid., 7.
- William Lane Craig, Hard Questions, Real Answers (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2003), 43.
- Ibid.
- Ibid., 44.
- Merrill C. Tenney, "The Gospel of John," in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, gen. ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981), 9:146.
- The remainder of this discussion is much indebted to William Lane Craig, Hard Questions, Real Answers, 47-55.
- Ibid., 49.
© 2006 Probe Ministries
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About the Author Dr. Michael Gleghorn is a research associate with Probe Ministries. He also serves as an instructor at Grand Canyon University where he teaches Christian Worldview. He earned a B.A. in psychology from Baylor University, a Th.M. in systematic theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Theological Studies (also from Dallas Theological Seminary). Michael and his wife Hannah have two children. They are active in a local church in Surprise, AZ. |
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About Probe Ministries Probe Ministries is a non-profit ministry whose mission is to present the Gospel to communities, nationally and internationally, by providing life-long opportunities to integrate faith and learning through balanced, biblically based scholarship, training people to love God by renewing their minds and equipping the Church to engage the world for Christ. Further information about Probe's materials and ministry may be obtained by contacting:
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