When we were much younger, our intercessory prayers were vibrant and almost imaginative. We prayed for our families, friends, pets, and for lots of presents. As we got older, we found ourselves praying for good grades, team victories, good weather, personal successes, for someone who was ill, meeting the right girl or guy, finding the right job, making the right decisions, and to be happy.
When our prayers were answered, life was good and so was God. But when our prayers were not answered, we floundered a bit. And sometimes we found ourselves doubting that the whole “prayer thing” even worked or that prayer could really change things.
Sometimes, just like the Galatians in today’s reading (Galatians 3:1-5), we get stupid. We get so wrapped up in the drama of what’s not happening to us, or why our prayers aren’t being answered – that we forget the entire reason and purpose of prayer in the first place. The purpose of prayer is not about getting things for ourselves. The purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.
There’s a popular saying: Prayer may not change things for you, but it sure changes you for things. (In other words, prayer changes the way we look at things.) Just because our prayers are not answered in the way that we want doesn’t mean that God is ignoring us. God always answers our prayers but not always in the way we want or expect or according to our timeline. Now this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t continue to ask. God wants us to keep asking. But we need to remember that our prayers are answered in ways that we may not even realize or can even comprehend at that moment. And we need to realize that with every prayer we pray, with every question we ask, we open ourselves up and we deepen our relationship with our God – and that’s the whole point. In some way, shape, or form, prayer changes us because we get to know God better – and that changes everything!
Let us praise and thank God for loving us, for being with us, and for hearing us when we call out to him. May we also pray for the awareness to continually ask, to constantly seek, and to persistently knock so that we can fully receive, graciously find, and be completely opened to the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
