Prayer Doesn’t Work???

In the warm evening hours of March 26th, the local news did something quite abnormal. On the local channels, the new stations streamed a live Christian event called “Let Hope Rise.” This brief procession was a community response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The hour-long occurrence consisted of some worship, prayer, and brief messages from several Oklahoma pastors. Being in the heart of the Bible Belt, this particular event was cordially received by many.

However, some people found the whole thing completely pointless. No doubt, this religious occasion — like tumultuous times of turmoil in the nation’s past — has drawn the jeers, the sneers, and the facetious mockery of people who don’t ascribe the Christian (or generally spiritual) framework. Anytime there is a public call to prayer in difficult seasons, we can also find secular opposition. The common objection is all too familiar: “prayer doesn’t work.” And to that, I simply say, “Oh, says who?”

The “prayer doesn’t work” proposition rests upon the idea that one knows it doesn’t work. Imbedded with the opinionated comment is an epistemological claim that I do not think can be backed up. How could you possibly know that prayer doesn’t work? How could you even begin to prove that throughout human history prayer has been a vainglorious attempt by believers?

The purpose of this brief polemic is not to prove that prayer does work, but rather, that the objectors and critics might not truly understand prayer. If you strawman and characterize what Christian prayer is, then, naturally, you will conclude that prayer is ridiculous. Misunderstanding often leads to wrong deductions and claims. I am here to set the record straight: to translate the event in terms so the dissenter may understand and so the Christian believer would have confidence that they commit no foul with prayer.

To the intellectual and emotional protestors of the “Let Hope Rise” event, I simply ask this: what would you do instead to bring a community together, uniting them with a central theme of hope? How would you rally the morale of a community— of a state or a nation — in this anxiety-inducing, fear-crazed time? How would you go about quelling the worries of parents, the unemployed, students forced out of school?

I can already predict the responses: “we need to put our hope in finding a vaccine and scientific research; we need to put our hope in our government leaders; we need to do our best to play the part of law-abiding citizens in this present crisis.” Really? Don’t those ideals have contained within them presuppositions that believers don’t care about those things? I have yet to meet fellow Christians who are totally callous to the idea of more scientific research, finding a vaccine, wishing our leaders would take effective action, and that people who abide by the CDC guidelines.

It would be logically fallacious to conclude that because we believe in God and pray, we somehow don’t seek the benefits of medical research; or that somehow we don’t wish and plead with our elected officials to do their jobs; or that we don’t put into practice the presented stipulations for the present moment. Christian prayer is something quite different than what the skeptics and the nay-sayers claim.

If one believes that prayer is simply asking God to do stuff they would be mistaken. There’s so much more to it than that. Imagine if I said math is for counting. Sure, there is some truth to that, but you would conclude, rightly, that I have failed to acknowledge the total scope of mathematics.

Christian prayer takes many forms: adoration, praise, supplication, acceptance, thanksgiving, or meditation. To touch on each sub-topic would take a long, meticulous book — fortunately books on prayer have already been written by the likes of John Bunyan, George Muller, and Andrew Murray, and Tim Keller.

The substance of prayer — if I may borrow the words from Tim Keller’s book Prayer — is, “the entryway into genuine self-knowledge. It also the main way we experience deep change — the reordering of our loves… It is the way we know God, the way we finally treat God as God. Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life” [Ch.1, 18].

In short, we pray not because we desire to change God and His will; we pray so that we may know God as He is and to know ourselves as we are; and that our hearts will be changed, that we may be transformed in the trying times. That is why the Apostle Paul says:

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” [Ephesian 3:14–19].

The whole purpose of prayer is not to throw our hands up, shrug our shoulders, and hope for the best while we sit and do nothing. In troublesome and trying times, prayer is the admission that we are not sovereign, that we need help, and that we don’t have all the answers.

Prayer, rightly understood in a biblical context, is surrendering false control. Prayer reveals our hearts — we are laid bare before the Divine. It is in prayer that we seek the sufficiency of God’s presence to soothe the deficiency of our souls.

If anxiety is the price tag we pay when we try to become our own higher power, then prayer is a defense against anxiety; it is a bridge across the chasm of chaos into the comforting arms of our loving, heavenly Father.

The “Let Hope Rise” event was nothing more than the opportunity for us to look to Christ and admit our limitations and to ask for His grace and mercy. In effect, we were praying this:

“God, we’re doing everything we can, but it's not enough. We need you. We need your help to get through this pandemic. Help our scientists find ways to combat this virus; heal those who have contracted Covid-19; help our leaders with your wisdom to keep the ship of the United States from dashing against the rocks; help calm people’s fears with your peace and comfort. By your power, change hearts and put an end to the pandemonium.”

To the objector of prayer, I humbly beseech you to answer these questions: what do you do in times like this? What do you do when things go haywire? How do you deal with not being in control of unfavorable circumstances? How do you fight fear? How do you combat the chaos? How do you wash away the worry?

I can tell you the Christian answer to the questions aforementioned is prayer; because prayer is a touchstone of the Christian life.

To Christian, I leave you to meditate on these wise words from C.S. Lewis: