Day #12: “When Prayer is Not Enough” (MK)
James 2:14-15 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
The title of this post was intended to provoke your thoughts. When is it that prayer is “not enough”? The answer is simple. When prayer is used as a replacement for obedience, our prayers are “not enough.” In the selected scripture reading for today, James describes a scenario when someone uses their blessing as a substitute for offering real help. The phrase, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled” sounds like a blessing. It seems to be a sort of prayer. In it, the Christian is asking for God to bless someone with warmth and fulness. Now, this would normally be a good thing to do. And it would be a really good thing to do if it accompanied faithful action. But in this case, it becomes a substitute for doing the right thing. In this form, prayer runs the risk of being blasphemous.
There are other ways that we can do this also. Certainly, it is wise to pray for God’s guidance and for God to illuminate his will to us. God has clearly revealed himself in Scripture. If we find ourselves praying for guidance, while avoiding the plain instruction given in the Scriptures, we could be using the appearance of prayer to mask our inward rebellion. I can remember times when I have heard people say that they were “praying about God’s will for an immoral situation that they were involved in.” On the surface, an important topic of prayer. But, often it can be a set up for further rebellion. As in, “Well I prayed about it, and I don’t feel bad about it, so clearly God doesn’t want me to change anything.” Using prayer for guidance, disconnected from God’s revealed will in Scripture, turns prayer into a spiritual mask for rebellion. That is not good.
This is important to think about because we have seen this sort of complaint enter into our national discussions. When there is a national tragedy and politicians respond by offering their “thoughts and prayers” it has begun to elicit pushback. To an extent this pushback can be legitimate. If a person uses the promise of “thoughts and prayers” to excuse their inaction on an important topic then that is a misuse of prayer. But most of us do not have particular responsibilities when responding to a national tragedy. There may be some things we can do, but they are often quite limited. For most of us, praying for people in the aftermath of a tragedy is not only the extent of our response, but it is also a very helpful thing to do. While I will continue to search out what actions a particular situation might demand from us, I will not apologize for “thinking and praying” for those impacted by a tragedy.
In summary, it is always good to pray. But prayer is not meant to be a substitute for other activities that God wants from us. We don’t pray for God to feed our pets, and leave the pet food on the shelf. We don’t pray for God to make himself known and leave the Bible on the shelf. We don’t pray for God to help us love our neighbor and leave our bike pump on the shelf while they struggle with a flat tire. Prayer is meant to accompany faithful actions, not replace them. And yet, we are limited humans. There are a lot of life situations in which prayer is not only the important first step, but it is the only step we can take due to our human limitations. Fortunately, God’s power is not limited!
