To address the question of prayer, its nature and its purpose, would require a book… or several. Even to look more specifically at the mystery of what prayer is, the question of the relationship between our prayers and God’s will, or the challenge of unanswered prayer would take a lot of time and a lot of words… and we would still end up with a mystery at the end of it all!
But wrestling with these issues is not a new thing. In the Bible there is, on the one hand, repeated affirmations of the efficacy of prayer, and - on the other hand - also laments at unanswered prayer.
Perhaps ‘mystery’ is the right word!
This is something that I often find myself reflecting upon in this Advent Season.
For long generations, God’s people had been looking and longing for Messiah to come. They prayed for Messiah’s coming. And for generation after generation their prayer was seemingly unanswered.
And then, when the Messiah did come, the reality was so different from what they had looked and longed for, prayed and pleaded for that few even noticed, or imagined that their prayers had been answered.
That is an arresting thought, at least it is for me.
Their prayers were not answered for generations and then when they were they failed to recognise the answer to their prayers.
What does that teach us about prayer, patience and
perception, I wonder?
What might it say to me about how prayers have been or may be answered in my life? Do I even notice when they are answered, or am I expecting something so different from the answer that has been offered, that I fail to recognise the answer God has given?
There is a lot to think about in all of this… and I do think a lot about it all!
And perhaps sometimes it is just a case of reflecting on it all and living with the questions rather then rushing for the answers.
A mystery indeed.
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