We’ve been here before. We certainly never wanted to be here in the first place, but to be here again is beyond maddening. Anger, frustration and sorrow are all right responses when we see evil unveiled. And it makes sense that we feel like we need to do something more about it, that what we’ve done before hasn’t been effective or we wouldn’t be hearing these headlines over and over again. I get it. We can’t keep doing this. But today when I heard someone say, “Thoughts and prayers aren’t enough”, it struck me a little differently and it’s been lingering with me since.
Maybe our problem is precisely that our thoughts and prayers aren’t enough. We aren’t willing to enter the holy space of holding someone in pain in our thoughts. We don’t want to remember the downtrodden or the suffering because it makes us uncomfortable. We may pray for a day or two, but we lack the stamina to go the distance, to pray without ceasing.
Of course, prayer that isn’t granted in the way we desire seems ineffective to us. We asked, but we didn’t get what we wanted. Getting God to do what we want isn’t the point of prayer at all. If it were, then we would really be the ones calling the shots. The trials in which we can’t control the outcome are sharp reminders that we are not God. They’re frustrating! But that’s not the whole story. Because God isn’t indifferent to our cares. He isn’t powerless in the face of our difficulties. He is full of mercy and compassion and unfailing love. That’s hard to see when darkness clouds our vision, but that doesn’t make it less true.
Will we accept that God can do things we don’t expect in ways we can’t understand and He can still be good?
To pray is to seek both the mercy and might of God. It’s to bring our desires before His throne and seek His perspective on our circumstances. Prayer is the opportunity to be reminded of who God is, what His character is like, and to reaffirm that only when His will is done without hindrance or opposition will things be the way they ought to be.
In response to suffering, trials, difficulty and downright evil, prayer is still the most effective thing we can do, the most practical help we can give. What other source of comfort is there? Who else is able to do what is most needed? What law can we enact that will change the hearts of mankind?
Pray and work for justice. Pray and pursue peace. Pray and love your neighbor. But don’t stop praying. Never stop praying.
“We should come with boldness to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 BLB