Day 620 - February 25 - A Good Question

Those of you who read this blog without logging onto the site itself sometimes miss good stuff going on "inside". A good example is this thing we have in there called The Chatterbox - just a window where people can ask questions, converse in realtime with other members, stuff like that - but every once in a while a jewel of a comment or question comes along, and if you're not logged in you won't see it.

This morning was one of those jewels. I logged on this morning to find this question -

In light of your realization that His ways are not our ways and that He is using everything that happens in our lives to work out His own purposes to His glory, is it the best thing or right thing that we should continually pray for Him to change our circumstances or our situation?

Wow, how often do you get fed a lead-in like that? So without embarrassing her, I want to say "thank you" to Carolyn for participating and offering that up - you made my day with that question! So, here goes my attempt to answer it...

In order to give you my understanding of this, let's set a few givens. First, the fact that we can recognize that "His ways are not our ways and that He is using everything that happens in our lives to work out His own purposes to His glory" doesn't do two things - first, it doesn't change the fact that I'm still a human, with human frailty, and human sins, and the uncanny human ability to not see things that are as plain as the nose on my face. And second, it doesn't make me like the way things are. Given that I can grasp the concept of God working in and through us for His glory, I think there are some progressions yet to be made - I can accept the idea, but I don't love it. Paul talked in Colossians about rejoicing in his sufferings - I'm not there, at least not yet. But I can at least grasp the idea, and maybe even accept it a bit. But I'd still change it if I could.

Next, there's a sticking point about how to pray. I'll come back when I have a few minutes and link back to a couple of posts on that topic I wrote earlier, but I am convinced that I am commanded to continue to pray for the boy's healing. Just to quickly name a few, there's the parable of the persistent widow, which Jesus gave to His disciples so they would know "to pray and not give up"; there's the parable of the man who seeks something from his neighbor in the middle of the night, pounding on the door until the man within finally opens up and provides; and there's the story of Bartimaeus the blind man, who refused to stop crying out to Jesus for healing, despite protests from his friends that he should be quiet. These three examples demonstrate pretty clearly that Jesus Himself expects us to pray for what we want until we're answered.

Now I've noticed a curious thing in my prayers for and about Connor lately. They've modified from the initial panicked and tortured cries to God. They've become conversations with Him instead. I often find myself praying for you guys, that God would hear your cries. I remind (sorry, that's the only word I can use for what it is I do) God that I am waiting and expecting Connor's healing every day - I tell God that I will keep asking this every day until he's healed or God calls me home, whichever is first. Each night when I lie down, I pray "well, I guess not today. Will you heal him tomorrow, Lord?" And there's a sense of certainty about it that was never there before - I'm quite calm and confident about the boy's restoration these days. One of these days, the answer to my nightly prayer is going to be "yes", and I cannot wait - even though I am understanding more about how God works in and through this. I don't know, but I think (and hope) that it's because I've gotten a better understanding of God, how He wants me to pray, and maybe I'm trusting Him a bit more than I used to.

Finally, the last part of Carolyn's question lingers - " is it the best thing or right thing that we should continually pray for Him to change our circumstances or our situation?" I would say that the answer is "yes", judging from my experience. My continual cry to God for my son has brought me to a place where my prayers often sound like this - "Lord, I KNOW you can heal my son. I know it I know it I know it. Will You?"

If that's not a sign of increased faith, I don't know what is. Perhaps it's like a teenaged boy, testing his strength against his dad. There's no chance of the boy overpowering his father, but his dad has to put some muscle into it to keep the young buck in line, and in doing so helps the boy grow stronger, and wiser, and tougher. The father's resistance makes the son work harder, and helps him grow into the man he will one day become. And the more the two of them wrestle, the more they enjoy the process and the time together.

Seems like that's a good thing, to me.

Eric

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