Impossible Prayers

When we left them, Abram and Sarai were without children but on the brink of some big news.

Being customary for wealthy, childless couples to make a trusted servant their heir, Abram must have assumed this would be the case with him. However, God repeats his promise and assures Abram that his heir will be his own child. Though he and his wife had been unable all these years to have children and were already well advanced in years, Abram believed …and his belief was credited to him as righteousness.

I’m going to stop here and take a few minutes to focus on belief, specifically two aspects of belief as it relates to our communication with God. In addition to believing what God says to us (as here demonstrated by Abram) there’s another aspect that has to do with what we say to God; that’s the part I want to look at today. It’s veering off Abram’s story just a bit, but it’s going to lead us right back to him before we’re done.

Belief…

It’s said that seeing is believing. Faith, on the other hand, is believing without seeing.

Some things don’t take much faith to believe. There are things expected, things within our control or at least within our ability to imagine (sometimes only a short leap of imagination at that), so believing isn’t hard.

However, what about those times when imagination can’t quite fill in the gap? Those times when we feel like we are praying against all hope? Then it’s hard, at least for me, because all I can think about is:

I get trapped in a cycle of anxiety over needing to ask for something that seems impossible, obsession over the “impossible-ness,” fear that God isn’t going to listen because of all the negative thoughts I can’t keep out of my mind, panic because of knowing that without God’s intervention, there really is no hope… Does this happen to anyone else?

I’m pretty sure prayer isn’t supposed to provoke anxiety attacks; this can’t be the way it’s supposed to work at all!

How about we start by looking at the context of this often misapplied passage? Here it is again with the verses that fall on either side:

This is talking about asking for wisdom. And it talks about double mindedness.

Have you ever found yourself straddling the fence between asking God’s will and hesitating for fear that it might conflict with your own? Guilty :(

That’s another subject, and I can certainly see how God wouldn’t be inclined to listen to a bunch of halfhearted ramblings about seeking His will … well, kind of…. partly… maybe. (In essence, I believe that means PROBABLY NOT!)

I think this is the “doubt” in question here as opposed to the struggles we have in ignoring the shouts of satan: “there’s no way, this is a useless prayer…etc.” Of course he’s going to do that. He’s going to do all he can to make prayer difficult because the last thing he wants is God’s people out there tapping into God’s power.

Satan would love nothing more than to get us so flustered and discouraged that we feel unable to pray. As I was working on this lesson, my friend Cherri shared a timely poster which couldn’t say it better:

Isn’t that perfect?

Just because satan shouts lies at us when we try to pray doesn’t mean we don’t trust God or believe in His power. Far from it.

And even if we do struggle and don’t have perfect faith, even then we have to keep going before God with everything that’s on our minds.

If we are going to go around quoting scriptures out of context, how about Matthew 17:20?

Now this was actually in response to the disciples’ question about why they’d been unable to drive out a boy’s demon. But I find extreme comfort in these words and, if I’m going to apply any scripture “out of context” when it comes to struggling in prayer, this is going to be it!

What about times we can’t seem to shut out that “this is impossible” voice?

We’ve worked out a few ways to get around that. One is to avoid directly and specifically asking for anything hard. If we keep our prayers light and generic, it’s easy to see them being answered.

If we have to get specific in prayer over something big and daunting but can’t quite believe enough to expect the answer we want, we ask… “If it be Your will.” That way, if we don’t get what we ask for it doesn’t threaten our faith or make us ask uncomfortable questions.

Questions like…

“Is there something wrong with me, some reason why God wouldn’t be listening to my prayer?” or, even more threatening, “Did God break a promise? Is there really any point in praying at all?” Doesn’t the Bible does say:

When things go wrong and needs go unfulfilled, it’s often easier to blame God’s will: (“I prayed ‘if it’s Your will’ and He didn’t do it, so it must not have been His will”) than to admit: “I didn’t have the faith to ask for what I wanted.”

How often do we settle for less than God would give us simply because of our failure to ask?

We need to be sure that when we say “Your will be done,” it is a prayer of faith and not a substitute for it. There is a big difference between throwing our hearts into asking for what God wants and letting a lack of faith or boldness (or both) keep us from asking for what we want because we fear it might be too much.

So even if we can’t always feel as brave as we want to, we can’t let that keep us from asking; WE HAVE TO ASK. And we have to be bold.

I promised our prayer discussion would wind us back around to Abram and here we are! If we’re seeking an example of boldness in prayer, we don’t have to look any further than Genesis 18, where we see Abram not only making a big request but even pushing the envelope, doing a little “bargaining” and “reasoning.”

By now, Abram’s name has already been changed. The city of Sodom (where Abraham’s nephew, Lot, lived) was on the verge of being destroyed because of its wickedness. Abraham goes to God and pleads on its behalf:

Wow! This is very bold communication. Not disrespectful, but certainly direct. God not only allows Abraham to express himself openly and honestly; He listens. He also grants Abraham’s plea.

Receiving a positive response, Abraham goes further:

Though Abraham shows great humility before God, he doesn’t shy away from asking for more.

I want to think I’d feel secure enough with God to beg Him for mercy in an instance where mercy wasn’t deserved, too, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t have ever been able to match Abraham’s courage. Just reading this makes me nervous… But it shouldn’t.

What it should do is give us confidence that God is approachable and that He welcomes our requests.

It should assure us that He cares about what is on our hearts and that He listens when we bring our concerns before Him. There’s never any indication that God was angry or impatient with Abraham over his pleading.

And, finally, It should tell us that our prayers matter.

Prayers….

From the faith-filled ones to those which, even if a little shaky are no less sincere, all of our efforts to open our hearts before God are important.

If it seems to make no difference whether we pray or whether we don’t, I’d suggest we aren’t asking for enough. Whether he’s using anxiety, doubt, distraction or whatever other tactic, we can’t allow satan keep us from going boldly to God.

When things seem hopeless, more than ever we have to ask.

I’ve learned that God’s power isn’t controlled by my feelings, which go all over the place, and certainly not by what I can or cannot imagine. I have doubts about a lot of things, but God’s capability to do whatever He decides to do isn’t one of them. I can’t always fathom how, but knowing He can is enough.

So, I’ve become a big fan of asking “the impossible” and just laying it all out there… doubt, fear, insecurity, uncertainty, feelings of inadequacy, you name it …I love the trust and transparency described in this poem and know that, when we honestly pour out our hearts out to God, this is what He does for us:

May God bless us with boldness to pray big prayers, the kind that require a BIG God …. then to stand in awe as we watch what He can do!

Until next time, Kim