I’ve never been so conflicted about a fart as I have in this room, in this place! It’s something I can do and my roommate can’t. He spends all day talking and acting like God doesn’t exist, and then moaning and crying out to him all night for relief. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t see the conflict, nor would he want to have it pointed out to him at this point. It keeps me awake at nights though.
There are a lot of times we treat God like a supernatural vending machine. And there are times that we want to hip check the machine to get it to loose the thing we think we’ve paid for by inserting our prayer. Where did we ever get the idea that prayers are like a payment we offer to the great unseen vending machine? And what ever did we do to deserve anything that we ask for? I wonder if begging in a moment of despair changes anything?
In the moments of our greatest need, I know we all cry out. Even if we don’t believe in God, we cry out for justice or fairness or at least relief. But where does that come from if not from God? Science has yet to figure out some of the most fundamental things in life, so I wouldn’t expect them the rush to the aid of everyone who is crying out for help and solve their problem. Some things are recognized as dark things we simply must endure.
The value of the currency of prayer from our lips must be very difficult to determine. I think the only value it may have is not on our lips, but in our hearts.
As C.S. Lewis puts it, “…It does not change God. It changes me.”