Hezekiah and Prayer

Our neighbor is convinced God finds her a parking spot when she needs one. She is convinced that if she needs something God answers her prayer and she receives it. I am dubious to say the least.

God appears to be very selective in that he finds her a parking place but lets a 4 year old girl die from ruptured organs from being beaten by her mother's boyfriend. My observation is I am now aware of God answering anyone's prayers. As for Jesus' prayers how were they answered?

You are probably convinced otherwise but I believe the Christians were praying that Peter die quickly. At that time everyone knew no one escaped Caesar's jail. To me that explains their surprise. Not a lack of faith just joy mixed with surprise.

Dez and Wilma and Debbie have been sick a long time. Does God continue to provide our neighbor with parking places while leaving Wilma and Dez and Debbie as well as scores of others today and in the past in pain and other intolerable situations? I do not believe he does that.

When Jesus told his disciples how to pray none of what we pray for was included including the "in Jesus name" thing. If James is going to be the example for praying for the sick don't you wonder why Paul left Timothy sick when all he had to do was let an elder know and Timothy would have been healed? I have never recognized the effectiveness of a righteous man praying.

One time my sister called me to tell me our dad was dying. Dottie and I went to Ohio and sure enough dad looked almost dead. We left that night expecting to return the next day to make the funeral arrangements. When Dottie and I arrived at the nursing home the next morning my sisters were there and dad had eaten two breakfasts and the nurses were trying to get him to skip a third. I can guarantee to you none of the three of us were praying for him to get better. He hated where he lived and was more than ready to die.

I would not necessarily call it psychological illusion (Karl Marx calls says religion in general is an opiate of the people) but I do wonder why no one, other than me of course, questions the fact that the prayers of the masses go unanswered and no one asks why. Especially since James says we can pray wrongly.

That raises another question why do we think all prayers are answered? Hearing us does not suggest answering. Jesus was aware Stephen was being killed but did not intervene. Surely God was aware of all the Christians murdered or tortured all these thousands of years and did not intervene. How about those Christians in Malawi who starved to death? Why are we convinced Jesus will intervene on our behalf? I am not so convinced.

It seems evidence of God answering prayer is taken from the OT never the NT. As in many situations we believe what we want to believe. I for one am not ready to give anybody any reasons why we should expect any affirmative answers to any prayer. I realize that puts me in the minority but my experience has been such personally and observation wise that there is a major gap between what we believe, or say we believe, and what I observe. And I wonder why and I wonder why I am alone in my wondering.

When my sister had breast cancer she asked me if I thought God would heal her. I told her that Jesus did not heal everyone but all those he and the apostles did heal served his purpose. So I suggested she make healing her serve Jesus' purpose. She survived two cases of cancer. Did the doctors do it on their own? I have no idea. Did it take God two tries to heal her? I have no idea. Without being too sarcastic he usually heals sprained ankles in the first attempt. And my last wonder is why does God say yes to the simple requests like parking places and broken bones but says "no" or "wait" to the more serious cases? And why am I the only one who wonders?

Any time any person prays without a complete conviction that their prayer will be answered with resounding yes is doubting and James says some negative things about people who pray in such a manner. I wonder how anyone can pray for God to heal any illness without doubting or wondering. Not questioning if he can but if he will, especially since my observations are that he never says yes.