Prayer is one of the deep and rich mysteries of our life with God. It is a discipline that is at the same time simple and complex, comforting and disturbing. We know God wants us to pray, and yet we are subject to the feeling that we don’t know all of the rules or expectations of “doing” prayer correctly. Are there right and wrong prayers? Are there effective and ineffective prayers? What exactly do we make of this thing called prayer? You would get tired of reading—and I would get tired of writing—if I attempted in this blog to answer even a short list of the most common questions about prayer. Further, I don’t know if I would even have answers to the questions. So for your sake and mine, I will avoid trying to offer such answers. For today I simply reflect on this particular question: “What should we seek when we pray?”
I believe that this question is relevant because I expect that most prayers that are offered include some kind of petition. To put it another way, the normal prayer includes a piece in which we ask God for something. That “something” might be all kinds of things: relieving stress in our job, healing a sick friend or relative, helping us see things from our spouse’s perspective (or helping our spouse to see things from our perspective!), helping with financial struggles, or all sorts of other favors that we might beg of our heavenly parent. All of these things may be fine, and it is not my desire to draw conclusions about them here and now. My observation about these kinds of petitions is that God’s response is not always the same for each person and each situation. We don’t always find the same answers. So I wonder, is there anything we can seek in prayer with the confidence that we will find it? Is there anything we can ask in prayer with the confidence that we will receive it? And the answer is, yes.
Actually the confidence comes not in seeking something, but someone. When we pray seeking God, just simply seeking God, I am thoroughly convinced that we will find God. This seems to be a theme that is clearly woven throughout the pages of scripture. To those who seek God with pure motives and humble hearts, God conveys the confidence that the face of the Divine will be revealed. For instance, God spoke to Solomon at night with the assurance that if the people would “…pray and seek my face…” that God would hear and answer that prayer (see 2 Chronicles 7:14). This is prayer that seeks God. I am convinced that when our prayers are exercises in seeking God’s face, God’s voice, God’s presence, then God will consistently respond by making himself known to us in those moments.
Does this mean that God does not want us to ask for other things in prayer? Certainly not. The apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t be anxious about anything; rather bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks” (Philippians 4:6 CEB). We are free to seek, to ask, and to expect when we pray. How God responds is something that is well beyond my ability to explain. Of this, though, I am sure: when our prayer is simply to seek God rather than to seek something from God, we will receive exactly what we seek.
See you along the winding path…
The Winding Path 