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| Ornate churches stand nearly empty in many parts of the world, but those who pray faithfully continue both inside and outside of the sanctuary. |
Our nation
has experienced an unusual series of national calamities, including hurricanes
in Texas and Florida, and violence that resulted in many casualties in Las
Vegas, New York City, and Sutherland Springs, Texas. In response, many elected
officials, pastors, leaders of other ministries, and people on social media
encouraged prayer for victims and their loved ones. Skeptics have countered
with snide comments, such as “praying doesn’t help anything.”
That, I
think we can all agree, is a matter of opinion. Certainly, if one doesn’t
believe in God, it would be easy to deny that prayer helps anything. But we
could say the same about someone who comments, “Sending good thoughts your
way.” Good thoughts? What good is that? Well, at least they’re not sending bad
thoughts.
In one
sense, I can understand the skepticism. How often have you heard of someone’s
plight and said, “I’ll pray for you,” and then gone on with your life and
realized you never followed through on the promise to pray? I’ve done that.
That’s why I’ve developed a habit of praying right then for the individual,
rather than hoping something will jog my memory to do so sometime later.
There’s
another side to this question. We pray many times because we know the needs of
the individual, or family, or community, are beyond our capacity to meet. We
trust in the assurance in Philippians 4:19, “And
my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ
Jesus.” The Lord promises to provide for what His children need, even
though He doesn’t promise to satisfy our “wants.”
Sometimes,
however, as we are praying for God to provide, He is expecting us to become
part of His gracious provision. The book of James addresses this when it
states, “If one of you says to him, ‘Go,
I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical
needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not
accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:16-17).
So, if we
say, “We’ll pray for you,” but fail to consider ways in which we can provide
specific, even tangible help in answer to our prayers, we’re failing to muster
the full power of prayer. Thankfully, when natural disasters occur, as well as
man-caused tragedies, individual believers and congregations are often
among the first responders.
Ministries
like the Salvation Army and Samaritan’s Purse are on the scene as
soon as possible to offer physical, emotional and spiritual assistance. Church
groups, and even mercy ministries from various denominations typically are
quick to respond as well. They are wonderful examples of putting feet to our
prayers.
Even in our
own communities, as we hear of various needs – whether it’s a devastating
illness, a family fallen on hard times financially, someone seeking employment,
or many other possibilities – we find opportunities to both pray and, as God
directs, seek to help in meeting those needs.
In response
to the comment, “praying doesn’t help anything,” it might be correct if all we
do is utter words without backing them up with action. However, prayer does
help in many ways. We acknowledge only God can provide some solutions, whether
it’s healing someone with a serious, even terminal illness, or a group of
people beset by natural disaster halfway around the globe. It can be a means
for reaching out to the afflicted, providing much needed spiritual comfort.
And as we
pray, God might impress upon our hearts ways in which we can become directly
involved, whether it’s making needed repairs to a widow’s home, generously
donating to a worthy cause, offering to transport someone to a hospital for
medical treatment, volunteering at a soup kitchen, or simply setting aside time
to spend with someone needing comfort and perhaps a listening ear.
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