Recap: Jesus Christ commanded us to love God with our whole being, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This love involves forgiving our fellow men as many times as it is required and forgiving in the way God has taught us to forgive. But many times, we are unable to fulfill this command. Why aren't we able to do it? Why aren't we able to do a lot of things which God is asking us to do? At times, we aren't even able to receive what is promised to us. Why is this so?
Matthew 17:17-29 Someone in the crowd replied, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a spirit that makes him mute. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.” “O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me.” So they brought him, and seeing Jesus, the spirit immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been with him?” “From childhood,” he said. “It often throws him into the fire or into the water, trying to kill him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” “If You can?” echoed Jesus. “All things are possible to him who believes!” Immediately the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd had come running, He rebuked the unclean spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” He said, “I command you to come out and never enter him again.”After shrieking and convulsing him violently, the spirit came out. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. After Jesus had gone into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” Jesus answered, “This kind cannot come out, except by prayer.”
Though Jesus had given his disciples the power to cast out demons, they were unable to do it in the above scenario. When they realized that, they went back to Jesus asking Him why. Jesus responds that it is the lack of prayer. Let us learn from the above incident of why we fail at times.
Are you giving up one step too soon? The father of the boy would have surely tried his best to help his suffering son. But even after several years of struggling, he couldn't help his son. He even brought the son to the disciples of Jesus. But they too couldn't help. What if he had given up and lost hope at this point? Don't many of us do that? We try ourselves, we ask the help of those whom we think are spiritually mature, and when they also fail, we give up. Sometimes, we aren't able to do it, because we give up one step too soon. Take it to the Lord in prayer!
Where is the 'but' of hope? The father of the boy told Jesus that the evil spirit throws him into fire and water, trying to kill him. BUT.... When we lament, do we have this 'but' of hope? Lord, my situation is really bad. BUT You Lord can help me.
"If you can", Do you believe that God can? Many of us do have faith in the sovereign power of God. Yet, we may think certain things are easy for God, and certain things are a bit too difficult that we might not want to bother Him about. For example, we might think it is easy for God to heal my fever, he could probably even heal my cancer. But solving the problem of corruption in our country is a bit too difficult. It is easy for God to forgive my sins, but quite difficult for Him to make me holy, and maybe quite impossible for Him to cause a revival in the place that He has put me in. Are what we ask God in prayer a reflection of what we think He can or cannot do?
"Have compassion", Do you believe that God has compassion on you? Sometimes we think of God like an old-time headmaster with a stick in His hand, ready to hit us when we fail and fall down. Sometimes we think of Him as a busy person solving the problems of the world, looking down on us when we disturb Him for petty little things. Sometimes we think of God as we would think of ourselves - with limits of patience, love, and mercy. Do you believe that God has compassion on you?
"Help us", Do you believe God is right now helping You? Psalm 46:1 says 'God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble. When we are tempted, God's word promises that He always gives us a way of escape. When we feel alone, God's word reminds us that He will never ever forsake us. Do we believe in all these promises, and that right now God is helping you?
Faith to accept a yes, and faith to accept a no: It is true that all things are possible for him who believes. This is not a declaration of the omnipotence we can have through believing! If we truly have the right kind of faith in God to receive a yes from Him, we will also have faith that God will give us the strength to endure when He says no. As God says, 'My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness.'
But, if God can do it for me, and if God has compassion and desires to do it for me, then why should He wait for me to pray? Why can't He just do it Himself?
I am reminded of the story of the plastic orange flowers. A lady in her forties was trying to clean her old father's storage room. She was pleasantly surprised when she opened an old cardboard box. She found some old and cheap-looking plastic orange flowers. She was surprised that her father still had them! When she was 8 years old, she had saved few coins from her pocket money and went to a shop to buy some flowers for her dad. She saw those pretty-looking plastic flowers. The brown one was cheap, but the orange one was a bit expensive, requiring her to spend all the pocket money she had saved. She remembered the struggle in her mind as she felt she had to give her all to buy her father a gift that day. Yet she managed to do it. She remembered the smile her father had when he got that gift from her. As a grown-up now, she saw the big picture. The pocket money she had - all the little coins that she had to give up that day - whose was it? Wasn't that what she received from her father? In some sense, she didn't earn the money with which she bought those flowers. It was her fathers' all along. Couldn't her father have easily got those flowers himself? He could have even bought the entire shop, He sure could have bought much better-looking flowers with the money that he had. Yet, the father rejoiced when the child brought the flowers.
C S Lewis writes that God gladly listens to us. He grants us dignity as creatures by allowing us agency to participate in the causality of the world he has made. He surely can do it Himself. Yet He loves receiving our prayers and actually effecting a change in His world because of it. Our prayers are like those plastic orange flowers, a sweet-smelling aroma that He cherishes.
Link to the previous article: How many times should I forgive? Link to the next article: Where are you?
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