Thoughts and Prayers

There was a terrorist act in Sydney just before Christmas that resulted in three deaths. There was a lot of coverage of this tragedy in the media. Because the event itself ran over almost a day, and the local television stations went into 24/7 coverage mode of the crisis, there was commentary and reactions recorded from the Prime Minister of Australia, the President of the United States, and many others. Almost all of these reaction interviews featured the statement "our thoughts and prayers are with the hostages and for a peaceful resolution to this situation".

I think they mean well, but this got me to thinking what the "thoughts and prayers" really means. Thoughts are relatively easy to understand, but pretty much useless. Even if they are good thoughts, they don’t go anywhere you’re your head. The meaning of prayers, however, is as variable as the person making the statement, or, more specifically, as variable as their faith.

If I say I’ll pray, but I don’t really believe in God, then, that sort of prayer is just as useful as a thought.  If I pray to an undefined “higher power”, then how do I know if the higher power I’m so agnostic about will hear, much less do anything? If my idea of prayer is to speak to God when a crisis arises, that could be effective, but if you were God, what would you think of someone who talks to you and makes promises only when they need you?  God is more gracious than you or I, and may answer if it is His will, but that sort of prayer is an act of desperation and not a sign of real belief, much less relationship.

If I earnestly pray, but there is sin in my life, I need to settle that first.  That’s what Jesus was talking about when He told the parable of the one going to pray, but having a wrong outstanding with another.  Settle the wrong first, then your prayer will be effective.  Prayer comes out of a relationship with God, it can’t be a one-off.  And, Jesus also said seek (and keep on seeking), knock (and keep on knocking), ask (and keep on asking), in other words, be persistent.  It’s that God doesn’t know what you need or why you need it, He wants you to realise how important it is to you.

People can say that they are praying for a good outcome, but I wonder if they actually do.  But, on the other foot, I need to actually pray (and pray persistently and effectively) if I say I am going to.