FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2022 SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS

 FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2022 SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS

PRAYER

I'm reading (listening) to a book - the Four Winds.  I'm only about 20% through the book but I've bumped into a spiritual issue - prayer.

The story (at least so far) is about a family in the high plains of northwest Texas (Dalhart - on the Oklahoma, New Mexico border).  In the 1930s when the "dust bowl" came - with drought, failure of crops, no water, terrible dust, and dirt storms, the residents gathered monthly for prayer - fervent prayer.  But there was no relief.  Did God not hear them?  Did they pray in an improper manner?  Was their sin that blocked their prayers? 

Some related scriptures:

The Lord inhabits the prayers of his people.

If my people, who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive and heal their land.

Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened unto you.

*****

But these people (in the book and in real life) did ask, did seek God's face - and there was no rain and no relief.

How about the people of Ukraine? People around the world have been praying for them - and they are still under attack, and still having the ravages of war with buildings destroyed and lives ended.  

Doesn't God hear their prayers?  If so, why doesn't he answer?

My simple answer - I don't know why God doesn't answer them. 

How about the steady stream of prayers for those with cancer, and with other ailments?  How about the prayers for jobs, for relationships, for wisdom?  Do they get answered? 

I've quoted "My ways are not your ways, says God" in the past.  I believe He (She, It, the Force) is infinite, all-knowing, all-loving, full of grace and mercy.  I am a finite human - and my understanding is so limited.

I have known God's mercy and grace in my life.  I have known his answered prayers for me.  Am I any different than those in Ukraine or the real-life people that are modeled in the book?  

In the book of James chapter 5, the writer talks about Elijah - a man just like us who earnestly prayed that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years, and then when he prayed again the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

I was talking to a friend about this concern and she said “God always answers prayer.  It might be yes, it might be no, and it might be to wait for God”.

*****
Maybe we can take a detour from the Old Testament Book of Daniel.  Daniel had been given a vision and God had helped Daniel with interpretations in the past but this vision wasn’t becoming clear to Daniel.

“Do not be afraid, Daniel,” he said, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. However, the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you.” Daniel 10:13-15

One school of thought is that when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree in the Garden of Eden that they had been explicitly told not to do, the enemy took control of the Earth. Thus the Daniel story about the “prince of the kingdom of Persia” is really referring to Satan hampering Michael (archangel) from reaching Daniel.  

God (who I believe is all-powerful) wants to help us - but maybe that help is hindered by Satan on Earth.  (Satan is not all-powerful, but is a fallen angel).

*****

We are mortal, we are finite; God isn’t.  I believe that heaven exists and there is no sickness, poverty, or hardship there.  I don’t really know.  Some have suggested that the streets of heaven are paved with gold.  For all I know, there might not even be streets.  But in my naive belief, God (He, She / It / The Force) wants all people to be in heaven.  How will He judge humanity?  I don’t know - that is His job, not mine.  I sense He is “kind and merciful” - and I will need a lot of mercy and grace!!!

So, keep on praying for peace in Ukraine, for those in positions of leadership, for those with cancer and Covid and other ailments, and just plan - keep an attitude of prayer!!

LOVE WINS!!

Karen

March 18, 2022