http://www.hieropraxis.com/2010/03/what-is-prayer-2-god-is-not-a-vending-machine/ Literature and faith, truth and beauty Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:23:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.hieropraxis.com/2010/03/what-is-prayer-2-god-is-not-a-vending-machine/#comment-88 pwgilbert Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:51:20 +0000 http://www.hieropraxis.com/?p=478#comment-88 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. 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.

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