Some Thoughts on Prayer and my GPS

We read things like this in the Gospel according to Luke: "And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" Luke 11: 9-13.

When we read things like this, sometimes we can't help but think: "Yeah, right." For example, Lesley and I have been praying nearly two years that our house would sell. Ask and you will receive? How many unanswered prayers are out there. Desperate mothers praying for their children who are lost in the world of drugs and alcohol? People praying for a miracle to heal them from cancer? And in these economic times, how many unanswered prayers are out there for work?

How, then, do we understand these words?

The apostle James, gives us some insight: "You ask, but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." James 4:3. I have to admit, with Lesley and I and the house situation, we have been looking for a house that is within the credit range that we can afford, but that is much more house than we need. There's a great line in the movie "Shadowlands." The movie is about C.S. Lewis and his wife, who died of cancer. A friend of C.S. Lewis is talking to him about turning to God in prayer, and Anthony Hopkins, who plays C.S. Lewis, responds, "We do not pray to change God's mind, but our own."

There's another way to think about this. Allow me to be so bold as to paraphrase Jesus. "Which of you would give your son a venomous snake, if he asks for one?" Sometimes we don't give our children what they ask for because we know it wouldn't be good for them. They're asking for the wrong thing. Sometimes, God doesn't answer our prayers just as we pray them because we're praying for something that ultimately would be bad for us. God knows what is best. If we can hold on to our faith, we believe that God will answer our prayers in a way that is better than anything we could possibly wish for ourselves.

I'd like to put this discussion in a larger context. This thought came to me several years ago, and I've found it to be more and more true since then. I think God's answer to prayers is something like using a GPS. God knows the destination and the route. We're asking for directions, even when we don't quite know what the destination is. We have an idea. I know that Lesley and I want to provide an appropriate home for our children to grow up that will allow us to provide for them a Catholic education and an occasional vacation. God knows exactly where that place is. So I pray, listening for directions for God to position us in a place where He will be glorified in our family life. God doesn't give me the entire route at once. He gives me turn by turn directions. I have to listen for those directions, step by step.

Lesley and I were going to look at an open house one day, and we plugged the address in to our GPS. The GPS led us to the 179 and Missouri Blvd interchange that's closed down. We couldn't take the directions the GPS gave. That happens with God's directions, too, although it's usually not that we can't do what God asks. We just don't. (That's called sin.) If we're faithful, however, and return to listening to God, He says like that GPS system, "You are now off course. Recalculating route." And God gives us turn by turn directions to get us back to the right place.

Prayer then, becomes asking for directions, not asking for things. Instead of praying, "Lord, heal my loved one." We begin to pray, "Lord, show me how to bring Your healing to my loved one." Very different. My prayer has changed. Instead of praying, "Lord, give us a house." I've started praying, "Lord, lead us to the house that you want us to have, and lead the one to this house whom you want to buy it." Very different prayers.

Ultimately, Jesus gives the answer in the gospel. "If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?" What we should be praying for is the Holy Spirit. "Seek ye first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added." Matthew 6:33. If we seek the Holy Spirit, pray for the Holy spirit, and listen for the Holy Spirit, every other prayer will be answered, although it may be in ways we didn't expect.

GPS: God's Positioning Spirit.