The Talk Place

Blogs with inside information and personal opinions from GRN members around the world

You Can’t Pray That Way!

Richard & Heather Roper - Sunday 27 September 2009

Prayer is special and it has to be done the right way doesn’t it. Or does it! You can’t talk to God in any old fashion can you?

In my reading the other day, I was struck by the prayer of Hannah (1Sam. 1:9-20). The scriptures say that she did something that I believed you were not supposed to do when you prayed. She pleaded with God. I had always been taught that you couldn’t plead with God because that would indicate a lack of faith. Since Hannah’s prayer was answered it seems to me that this bit of advice is quite wrong.

I suddenly realised that there had been a lot of advice over the years that seemed to me to be quite wrong. For example, I have always been taught that you can’t get angry with God when you pray because if you do He will punish you. I read about Samson (Judges, 15:18-20) the other night, he got angry with God. In fact Samson down right through a tantrum and God, happily it appears, answers him and gives him what he wants.

I not real keen on the prospect of throwing a tantrum with God as it seems to me logical that if God is the father as a father I would be inclined to ignore a child throwing a tantrum but it would seem that God has no problem with someone getting angry when it is important.

Another one is you can’t bargain with God. Now this may not be a very wise thing to do as we can see in the case of Jephthah’s daughter (Judges, 11:28-40), however there are a number of examples where people have made vows to God and he has honoured them. Hannah again is a prime example of this and it worked for her (1Sam. 1:9-20). And what is a vow after all if it’s not just a form of bargain. You are offering God something and in return getting something. Clearly bargaining with God is not taboo.

Of course the best example of good prayer is the Lords prayer (Matt. 6:9-14) but I just wonder how many of us limit our prayer life because we are told, “You can’t pray that way”.

The long and the short of it is you can pray any way you want.

I remember studying the stages of death and dying for grief counselling and I found it interesting that two of the stages of grieving are, anger and bargaining. Elizbeth Kubla Ross talks about how people try to defend God to the grieving when in fact if we truly have a right view of God we realise that he is big enough to defend himself. In other words if someone needs to get angry with God who are we to stand in the way. Everybody needs to understand that Staying Angry with God only, is not healthy and inhibits growth through the grieving process but we also need to know that standing between God and the prays of those that need to pray is not only arrogant but at least just as dangerous.

So what am I saying? If you need to pray then do it! Set aside all those that would stand in your way. Nothing can stand between you and your relationship with God. He is big enough to look after Himself. What was it the old hymn says “Oh what needs we often forfeit: “Oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry ever thing to God in prayer”. God WILL Always answer. He may say no but he will give an answer.