What Good is Prayer Anyway?

We’ve all found ourselves in a place in our lives when we “took it to the Lord in prayer,” as the old song sings. And we took it and we took it and we took it, but our prayer, it seemed, did not take. Ether God was not listening or God was on the other line or God simply did not care. Who knew? All we knew was that our from-the-depths-of-our-heart prayer went unanswered. And so in frustration and with not a little bit of anger we wondered to ourselves or out loud, “What good is prayer anyway? It’s just a waste of time because God doesn’t seem to care about me.”

     Of course, there are those who do not even bother with prayer. It is not that they do not believe in God. They simply assume that everything is already set in place. What will be is what is supposed to be because God set it up that way from the very beginning. Besides, who are we to try to tell God what to do or tell God what is best for us? We can pray all we want, they say, but it is not going to change anything. Que sera sera.

     Believers and skeptics alike honestly do wonder about the efficacy of prayer. We all wonder what good prayer is given our inability to control God and the seeming haphazardness in the way our prayers are answered. Moreover, there are times in our lives when we can literally pray up a storm. And they are times we are so overwhelmed by the storms going on that we are unable to utter one word of prayer.

     Yet prayer is good. It is good for one very important reason. The truth is that we do not pray for no reason at all. Every time we pray, we pray for as reason: we pray about someone or something important to us, often very important to us. Even if our prayer is said half-heartedly or almost inattentively, what we are praying about is of concern to us. That may seem obvious, but it is also a fact we often overlook or even take for granted.

     It is good to pray about that which is important to us. Why? We pray because prayer is the first step in having our prayers answered not by God, but by God and us. Prayer is two-pronged. God will not do for us what we are unwilling to do for ourselves. If we do not do our part, God certainly is not going to do God’s. When we pray to God about something that is important to us, we also have to ask ourselves what we are doing to help bring about an answer to that prayer.

     Prayer awakens us to our Christian responsibilities. When we pray to God that the hungry be fed, that the sick be healed, that ignorance be alleviated, that the poor be raised up from poverty, that we find a job, that our illness be healed, that Uncle Tom’s surgery be successful, that we pass this exam, etc., etc., at the same time we must examine our consciences to ask what we are doing to bring about the answer to that prayer. Sometimes, it is true, all we can do is pray. More often than not we can do much more.

     The old adage about putting our money where our mouth is apropos. When we pray, we must be willing to put our time and talent and treasure to work with God. Yes, sometimes what we take to the Lord in prayer is a plea for a miracle. Sometimes even miracles demand our participation. Jesus could not change water into wine unless someone first filled the barrels with water. He could not heal the hand unless the person put it forward. He could not help make a person walk if that person was unwilling to do his part.

     Prayer to God is good if for no other reason than it reminds us that we have a role and a responsibility to bring about that for which we pray. How our prayers are unanswered is important. What is more important is that we do our part.

                                    WJP