Much Prayer About Nothing
For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:3-4 (NLT)
Needing Nothing – How often our prayers are motivated by circumstances in which we are acutely aware of our insufficiency! We run into something that is beyond us. We lack the skill, temperament, motivation or resources to overcome. So we pray. “Lord, help me.” What we really mean is something more like, “Lord, bring Your power and will and knowledge to bear on my problem and fix it for me.” Just listen to the standard community prayer in your church. It is probably filled to the brim with requests for God to fix things that we can’t.
James has a different perspective. For him, medeni leipomenoi (literally, not one thing lacking) has a very different goal.
James tells us that the presence of adversity (of all kinds) is food for spiritual growth. It is the necessary nutrient of grace. Without adversity, we fall prey to spiritual atrophy – or worse. Contrary to liberal theological opinion, God knew precisely what He was doing when He told Adam and Eve that they would have to complete their mission in the context of suffering and sorrow. Adversity fuels dependence – and inoculates us to the sin of self-sufficient pride. We need it, unfortunately, because we are deeply diseased at heart. However, the very stuff that results from disobedience – the trials and adversity now a part of the fallen world – can become the vehicle of God’s unfailing grace. This is James point: The purpose of prayer is not to get God’s answer. It is to draw close to God. The answer, whatever it is, is simply a by-product of being in His presence. The real answer to prayer – all prayer – is God. The answer is not the results brought about by God but rather God Himself. And anything that enables us to come closer to Him is useful – even if it is heartache and trials.
Today I am visiting with a family that survived hurricane Ivan. Its force submerged their home in a wall of water and sewage, destroying all that they possessed in a matter of minutes. Two years later they are still working to recover. But they are grateful to God. They are alive. They know His grace. They are stronger, closer, more aware. Next door is a neighbor who does not understand the meaning of adversity. He has never recovered in spite of his repaired home. He is shattered – the shell of a man who believes life should have been under his control. The difference is dramatic – and heartbreaking.
What about you? Is adversity your breakfast of champions? Do you see that the answer to prayer is never really about fixing anything, but rather about coming into His presence? Will this change your praying?
