A few moons past I heard the song, “NEED A FAVOR” over a strikingly still-operational FM radio. Its lyrical theme is pretty straightforward: how can one expect God’s salvation when they only go to prayer based on some current or future need?
Seems like an obvious dilemma, but it honestly got me thinking about the nature of prayer itself. Growing up, I heard plenty of times how important this practice must be throughout life. “Don’t forget to pray, and pray hard”, was the typical advice. “Ask God and he will show the way”, might be another popular form. Invariably however such approaches devolved into, “Please give me this”, with perhaps a slight dollop of thanks on top.
Is that the extent of what prayer is meant to be? An awkward trade-off between gratitude and requests, where the former almost feels sidled into existence merely such that the petitioner avoids any sense of guilt? Nervous absolution, in one variety or the other.
The easily-tempted side of me imagines there must be something deeper to it all. What would be the purpose of such an action if God presumably has a plan in place, and knows each outcome before it materializes? Trying to prevent a particular result (or ensuring the same), doesn’t appear to sit well with the concept of submission. One could be venturing far enough towards conceited defiance and thus separation by insisting on that very route.
Thankfulness on the other hand causes less concern about motives, although its pairing with asks can generate different conundrums. God’s rejection of a possible request obviously cannot not be scorned from a traditional perspective, but rather welcomed under the “count your blessings” mantra. So presumably it is better to simply say thanks rather than attempting to move Him absent any guarantee that a specific outcome will occur. Less presumptuous I suppose.
Alternatively, the choice could be for some form of communion with God. Praying so as to communicate with the Creator, to the extent that an interaction can be attained. To be frank however, I am not certain how this works.
More questions than answers, the fate I tackle each writhing day on future’s road.
ECONOMIC COMMANDER 