Christians pray for different circumstances all the time. Obviously, the Bible teaches us to pray for our needs. Jesus himself prayed repeatedly for release from his circumstances. “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36).
So it’s not wrong to pray for different life circumstances… at least sometimes. But it’s noteworthy that, after praying in Gethsemane, Jesus’ whole demeanor changed.
Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear… So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
John 18:10, 11; ESV
Would it have been right for Jesus to keep praying for rescue while on the cross? We have a Scriptural answer: No. His mockers told him to pray for rescue. Jesus refused and thus remained faithful to his calling.
How we apply this timing to our own lives is a riddle I can’t solve for everyone. But we won’t solve it for ourselves if we don’t acknowledge the following truth:
Sometimes it is wrong to pray for different life circumstances.
As a general rule I think it is less damaging to pray (when you shouldn’t) than to not pray (when you should). But it is worth checking if praying for rescue is functioning in your mind as a placebo for dealing with the life God wants you to live and grow in.
Consider the case of a young man or woman who wants to get married and, for whatever reason, cannot find a suitable spouse. Is his life on hold until God grants his prayer? Or is he rather supposed to grow in wisdom and serve God in whatever way is open to him. The answer is self-evident.
But it’s much easier to assume that it’s God’s job to change undesirable circumstances and not give thought to how we are supposed to be changed by them. People pray for a grand rescue, much like other people buy lottery tickets. But the results of winning the lottery are surprisingly ambiguous. Financial “rescue” doesn’t work the way it is expected to do.
Wait but Don’t Waste Time
There is a scene in C. S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian that illustrates the kind of wisdom God wants us to demonstrate. Prince Caspian’s forces are facing a much more powerful foe.
“Now,” said Peter, as they finished their meal, “Aslan and the girls (that’s Queen Susan and Queen Lucy, Caspian) are somewhere close. We don’t know when he will act. In his time, no doubt, not ours. In the meantime he would like us to do what we can on our own.”
C. S. Lewis
The result was the devising of the strategy to challenge the enemy leader in single combat. It was an idea that didn’t look very promising but would probably delay a battle. Amazingly, the challenge was accepted leaving High King Peter to face a powerful adversary with no sign of Aslan suddenly arriving to save his life.
But God doesn’t call us conquerors (Romans 8:37) to never use us in battle.
The point here isn’t really about prayer so much as about how much time we spend imagining what we want rather than how we might deal with where we are and move from there, not by science fiction teleportation, but step by step in our own shoes. “The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth” (Proverbs 17:24). “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense (Proverbs 12:11). Prayer is not a worthless pursuit, but clinging to fantasies about an alternative universe in which you are not only a happier but a better person probably is. To rework Proverbs 20:13, “Love not imagined circumstances, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.”
Or perhaps Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount also work backwards. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34). Likewise, don’t magnify the day’s trouble by spending your time thinking of a miraculously better day. Deal with the day you are in.
You Want Better Circumstances but God Wants a Better You
What concerns me is that you pray for different circumstances when God chose the circumstances because he wants a different you. We all know the clichéd story about a man on the roof of his house during a flood who turned away two boats and a helicopter because he had prayed for God to save him. But after he drowned God told him he had sent him the boats and helicopter in answer to his prayer.
So when you ask God to send you new circumstances, perhaps he is sending you into those circumstances. If God helps those who help themselves then perhaps you are the help God is sending you.
I have more to write about this, but this post is long enough for now.