Prayer and Uncertainty
“’But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us.’ ‘If you can?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for him who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; he me overcome my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:22b-24).
The above verses come immediately after the Transfiguration. Jesus, Peter, James and John had come down from the mountain to be confronted by a crowd of people surrounding the remaining disciples. There was arguing and accusations being thrown about. When the crowd saw Jesus, they ran to Him and explained what was happening.
It seems a man had brought his son to Jesus to be healed of a demon. Not seeing Jesus, the father took his son to the disciples, expecting them to do something. When the disciples proved unsuccessful, the chaos ensued.
Jesus asked the father what the problem was. The son had a demon that would throw him to the ground. He’d foam at the mouth, gnash his teeth and grow rigid. Upon seeing Jesus, the demon immediately did exactly what the father described. Jesus asked the father how long this had been going on, and the father explained from childhood. It is then that the father made the request of Jesus in the verses above.
Sometimes we find ourselves in desperate straits, not knowing where to turn or what to do. In our desperation, we finally remember God, and so we turn to Him in prayer. Unfortunately, in these times we often come questioning what exactly can or will do. And so we approach the throne of God with uncertainty. We may be fervent in our request (I believe the father was fervent in his request) but we often couch it with “if you can.”
The question about God is not whether He can or can’t do something. As Jesus pointed out, everything is possible for him who believes. So the question we should come to God with in our uncertainty is not a question of God’s ability. It is a question of God’s will.
The idea of “name it and claim it” is a misconstruing of what prayer is all about. The idea of praying in confidence is true, but the idea that we can tell God what to do is not. On Paul’s second missionary journey, there was no question that God wanted Paul to be on the mission trip. Oddly enough, though, the traditional places all seemed to be closed to him. Finally, in a dream, God spoke to Paul with a new direction to turn, a new place to go.
As we pray, even if we are uncertain, perhaps particularly if we are uncertain, we need to come to God with confidence that He can do things, but also be aware that the more important aspect of the prayer is to truly seek God’s direction in the matter.
Perhaps the prayer of uncertainty may go something like this: “Father, I come to you unsure of what to do. I’ve tried everything I can think of, and now I’m turning to You. Forgive me for not coming to You first. I lay (state the concern) at Your feet and ask that You act appropriately. It is my desire that You (state your preference), but more importantly, I want Your will done in this matter. As You know, I don’t have much faith at this stage. Having said that, I know that You can do all things. Take my small portion of faith and help my unbelief. Amen.”
Maybe someone doesn’t have much faith. For whatever reason, a person has come to a point in their life where they’re not sure what God can and/or will do. Jesus reminds us, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move over from here to there’ and it will be moved. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20-21). I had a man in my church that questioned whether or not he had faith. He continually said if a person put a ping pong ball on the altar at church, he knew he wouldn’t be able to move that ping pong ball. But we miss the point if we think of faith acting on an actual person moving an actual mountain from one point to another.
My former Baptist Student Union director and long-time friend, Don Emmitte, once sent me a story addressing this issue. A church in Tennessee had built a nice, new, larger worship center and were looking forward to beginning services in the new building the next Sunday. The church was situated on the side of a mountain with a wonderful view all around.
That Monday, an agent from the state Department of Transportation informed the pastor that the church would not be able to use the new facility because they didn’t have enough parking available and there was the danger of people parking along the roadside, which would create a hazard.
The pastor was not happy to hear this news, but he did the only thing he could think of. He called the prayer warriors of his church, explained the situation and asked them to pray for a solution.
The next day, two men showed up at the church. One was the contractor of a new mall that was being built in a nearby town, the other was an engineer. They had a problem. They needed landfill for the mall site and didn’t have any readily available. They wondered if the pastor would allow them to remove a portion of the mountain behind the church. In exchange, they would level the mountain, pave the flattened part and create a parking lot.
By the next Sunday, all was done and the church held worship in their new facilities, exactly as planned.
Yes, it’s possible for God to literally pick up a mountain and move it, but it’s more likely He’ll move mountains with bulldozers and dump trucks.
“Lord, I do believe; help my unbelief.” Because God knows us so well, He knows our uncertainty, and that knowledge gives us the freedom to admit our uncertainty to Him in our prayers.
Prayer and Fear
Fear is a paralyzing emotion. It doesn’t matter what we are afraid of, fear can disable us and keep us from achieving the things we need to do. Sometimes, our fear is expressed in procrastination, putting off what we are afraid to do until we absolutely have to act on it. Sometimes our fear makes us run as far and as fast as we can from what we fear. Fear is the emotion that stops us in our tracks.
Oddly enough, fear is found throughout churches and in the lives of Christians. Never mind the fact that the Bible tells us we have nothing to fear (cf. 1 John 4:18). I’ve known good Christian people afraid to speak to God. Why? They’re afraid of what He may ask them to do.
There’s some validity to that. The last thing Moses wanted as he neared the burning bush was to be told by God to go and stand before Pharaoh with the demand to let the Israelites go. Jonah was so afraid of what God would do with the Ninevites, that he tried to run as far from Nineveh as he could.
Again, the freedom we find in prayer is that God already knows we’re afraid. He knows it before we speak with Him. And He already has a plan to deal with our fears.
A prayer of fear can be gain, “God, I’m reluctant to speak to You about the following because I’m afraid of what You’re going to say or do or how You’re going to act.” Then lay the issue before Him and let the chips fall where they may.
When Moses was trying to convince God that He had made a horrible mistake in picking Moses to lead His people, Moses finally came to the point of telling God that He needed to find someone else. For the first time in the dialogue over two chapters, the Bible says “The Lord’s anger burned against Moses” (Exodus 4:14). But God’s anger didn’t stop Him from giving Moses the solution. God told Moses that God was sending Aaron to him, to be his mouthpiece to the people.
The thing we need to realize is that God already knew this was going to come up. That’s why, in Exodus 4:27 God had told Aaron to go meet Moses at the mountain where God was speaking to Moses. Aaron lived in eastern Egypt, while Moses was at Mt. Sinai at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. This suggests that Aaron was told to head out to Moses before Moses saw the burning bush. By sending Aaron, God not only gave Moses a mouthpiece, He also gave Moses someone who would be able to share in his ministry and be able to give him the support and feedback that Moses would need.
Sometimes, our fear before God is not what He may call us to do, but that we already know what we want to do is not His will. At those times, we need to confess our fear, admit what we want to do and, as expected, God clearly shows that such an action is a violation of God’s will and is an act of disobedience, we need to confess that as well, and turn back to Him.
The thing about being afraid of God is that we’re afraid of how He’s going to react. But notice again, when God’s anger burned against Moses, He didn’t strike Moses down, but gave Him what he needed. When Jesus’ anger rose against the Pharisees for their indifference to a person’s needs in comparison to their demand to uphold the letter of the law (Mark 3:1-6), Jesus’ response was to heal the person in need of healing, not striking the Pharisees down.
The important thing to remember is that our fear before God is most often unwarranted. God is not in the business of beating us down, but in lifting us up. His love for us is as a father for his children. John is right: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).
God’s love sets us free to approach Him in prayer even when we’re afraid.
Conclusion
Knowing God knows us so well, and knowing that we don’t need to try to hide things from Him is a freeing experience. We can be ourselves before God as we can never be before anyone else. Perhaps the best way to put this is citing Paul’s letter to the Romans.
“What shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or hardship or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:31-35, 37).
God has set us free. Let’s use that freedom to truly become what God has called us to become. Rest in His love and His power and His freedom.
© 2018 Glynn Beaty