To be completely candid, I find Screwtape’s comments on prayer in Letter 4 to be personally relevant. Focusing prayer is very difficult for me. Perhaps it’s because I’ve watched too much television and developed ADD from playing too much Super Mario Bros. More likely, it’s probably because I haven’t devoted myself to actually praying as much as I probably should have. I certainly have embraced Screwtape’s suggestion of making prayer “spontaneous, inward, informal, and unregularized.”
Whatever the cause, my prayer life is probably one which Screwtape would rejoice over. I can rarely identify with the experience Screwtape describes saying that “once thoughts and images have been flung aside...and the man trusts himself to the real, external, invisible presence there with him in the room…the incalculable may occur.”
Often times I’ve heard people say that prayer is primarily helpful because it makes the person praying into a more humble, spiritual, or selfless person. I’m sure prayer does these things, but it’s clear that Screwtape is more concerned about prayer provoking “the Enemy” to action.
I think C.S. Lewis is using Screwtape’s warning to advance his apparent belief that prayer is actually affective in actually accomplishes something. According to Lewis, when people pray and God often actually responds. God doesn’t just listen to prayer, God uses prayer as a means to undo evil’s grip on the world. That would be pretty awe-inspiring if it’s true.
Just think. According to Screwtape, “whenever there is prayer, there is danger of his immediate action.”
Accordingly, if you were to get down on your knees and pray, trusting yourself to God, the maker of the universe will actually not only listen to you, but may act immediately in light of your prayer.
That’s an astonishing claim--a claim that isn’t too far off Bible stories. In Genesis, Abraham pleads for the lives of everyone in
I don’t know how a God who claims to be sovereign can also change plans in light of requests made by God’s own creatures, but there are millions of people wiser than me, from all walks of life and different faith traditions (Christian and non-Christian) who have found this to be true. There are intelligent men and women who have theories, attempting to break through this paradox and make it less mysterious. I’m not sure any of them are really successful in explaining it--though If someone claimed to fully explain the works of God, than I’d have to doubt them since no finite being could fully explain the infinite.
So, if God wants to listen to my prayers and somehow (while cloaked in mystery) act in light of them, I’m humbled. I’m also resolved to give more attention to spiritual actions like prayer for others who are in greater need than I am.
1 comment:
Excellent post!
Prayer is such a tough thing. The Bible tells is to pray without ceasing as verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:17 advise. Yet, I wonder if we pray merely out of obligation, does that do anything to change the heart of God? There are many great theologians (recent history gives us Richard Foster and Dallas Willard) that have set examples of the spiritual disciplines that we need to follow. Great thoughts in great books, but are they practical? These disciplines almost always include fervent prayer. Yet I wonder if we set our mind to practicing the disciplines like prayer, fasting, and reading the Bible then are we primarily changing the outward man? How does this differ from the Sadducees and Pharisees that Christ criticized for their outward practices?
I love your Biblical examples as I was already thinking about Abraham. We find the story of Abraham pleading with God in Genesis 18. God says he is going to wipe out Sodom. Abraham pleads with God and the Creator of all keeps changing his find. Wow! What a phenomonal story! We can argue whether it is historically accurate or used more for imagery until we are blue in the face. Ultimately, we can take the lesson away from the story that man can change God's mind through the fervor of our requests. The difference between obligation and fervor depends on how emotionally attached we are about the topic. For us to pray without ceasing, we have to throw off the "practice" of prayer and see people and the world as Christ sees them. When we see the pain and suffering of others then feverish requests and petitions on God can be our only recourse. This is a heart that moves God. This is a petition that demands an answer. The answer may not be the result we were hoping for, but an answer will be given. I think this is one of the reasons why the Bible refers to God as Abba Father in places like Romans 8:15 and Galations 4:6. When we passionately feel for others, then we can petition our Father, our "dad", in a way that he finds favor in. The "dad" will want to answer the child.
Now to make a 180 turn, I have long been curious about changing the mind of God. If God is truly omniscient, then are we changing his mind, or merely playing out the story that He already knows the full plot to? Too, too much for my feeble brain.
There is so much more I could share...but then would anybody read it?
Sorry for the long comment...sometimes I can't stop...it's an addiction!
keith
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