What Is Prayer? (2): God Is Not a Vending Machine
A glance at the Christian Inspiration shelves in a bookstore will reveal numerous books touting the power of prayer – to heal, to comfort, to inspire, to get what we want. We should tread carefully here. It is true that our Lord tells us to pray for “our daily bread”: we are indeed called to live in constant humble reliance on our heavenly Father, who hears us and responds to our prayers.
However, we must not fall into the error of thinking of God as a cosmic vending machine: insert prayer, receive desired outcome. That way lies madness. It is a distortion of God, cutting Him down to a size and shape that we find convenient.
Prayer is communication with our heavenly Father, through His Son our Savior, in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we ask our Father for something, the answer may indeed be Yes. Our Father delights in giving good gifts to His children!
But God’s answer to prayer may also be No, or Not Now, or Yes, but not in the way we expect.
The No is as important as the Yes for our relationship with God – maybe more so. Our Lord himself models this for us in the last days of his earthly life. In the garden of Gethsemane, the night before the Crucifixion, Jesus knelt in agonized prayer, knowing what lay ahead: humiliation, pain, abandonment by his friends, death on the cross. Sorrowful and troubled, Jesus asked, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Mt 26:39).
The Father’s answer – to the prayer of His own Son, perfect in every way – was No. The cup did not pass from him.
Jesus shows us that it is not wrong for us to ask for the easier path and desire the lighter load; he also shows us the perfect response when the answer is No. Three times he prayed, and then, waking his disciples, he said, “Rise, let us be going” (Mt 26:46). Jesus’ prayer was answered by the knowledge that the fulfillment of his work indeed lay on the Cross. The cup, not having passed from him, was his to drink to the last, bitter drop – and he did.
Every No thus has a flip side, a Yes that we can embrace. If we don’t ask in prayer, fearful of that No, we miss out on the opportunity to respond to God’s answer in love and obedience.
When He says Yes to our prayers, we can be thankful, with a grateful appreciation of all that our Father gives us – but more than that, we can rejoice in the union of our will with His.
When He says No, then we can rejoice in the opportunity to conform our will to His – to trust in Him. Just as Jesus followed the way of the cross to its bitter, bitter end – all the way to the grave, and through it, to joy and life – so too we can rejoice in the opportunity to follow our Lord on the way of the cross, the way that leads to life and peace.
Easier said than done – but we have our Savior to lead us, and our whole life to practice, God willing. No better time to start than today.
Related posts:
- Listening to God
- The Spiritual Disciplines: The Wings of Prayer
- The Anglican Rosary as a Spiritual Discipline
- Meditating on the Apostles’ Creed, Part 2
- What Is Prayer? (3) Why Bother?
One Response to “What Is Prayer? (2): God Is Not a Vending Machine”
Dr Holly Ordway came to Christ through reason, in the pursuit of truth. "In your hearts honor Christ as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 15).
She writes about her journey from atheism to orthodox Christian faith in her book "Not God's Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith" (Moody Publishers).
The image of God as vending machine strikes me as one everyone can visualize. I heard today (7-18-10) on NPR that Pennsylvania is experimenting with liquor vending machines! Before the machine dispenses booze, a person must swipe his/her driver’s license (age proof) and then blow into the breathalizer (sobriety proof). I wonder if God’s vending machine would require such tests? Are we old enough and sober enough to know what we’re praying for? I feel like a child when I pray–the child who forgets all God has done in the past. All the things God has said to do or not to do are forgotten sometimes, too, just as a kid believes that the admonition to put dirty clothes in the laundry, commanded on Monday, doesn’t apply to Tuesday. The people of Israel were guilty as I am of faulty memories. But perhaps it’s more important that we pray–daily. I count on God’s answers because he has answered in the past and his Word says that he hears us when we pray. And I may be unable to say “thank you for XYZ”in specific terms (that bad memory), but the fact that I pray knowing that I am thus connected with my Father is what’s vital to my life–spiritually, physically, emotionally. Our parents didn’t always say yes to what we asked for because they loved us and knew better than we did what was appropriate at that time for us. And God is our Father. When he says “no” it’s a good thing.