I wonder if we actually believe this. The gospel about the mustard seed comes to mind here. That parable teaches, if we simply unite our prayer with God we can do great things. But when we make petitionary prayer, and ask God for His blessing and favor, we don’t always get what we want, when we want it. So what does this gospel actually mean.
God is the good Father, and He wants to give us everything…, He loves us all so much, but He also knows that some gifts might be wrong for us, or even actually be a curse, either to myself or to others if we were to recieve them. Think of the movie Bruce Almighty. In the that movie Bruce is given the power of God, and because he is human, he cant handle all of the prayer requests coming in, so he grants all of the requests at once, everyone gets what they pray for, and it was a calamity for the world. Clearly not all prayers could or should be granted, and when we reflect back on our lives I am sure that you too will recognize the wisdom of some of your unanswered prayers.
But what about the important ones, what about the prayers for healing, or the end of suffering? This is where the big picture of God comes into play. We cannot understand why God allows innocents to be harmed or the evil to be healed, but I do know that it will all be revealed at the end of time, and I guarantee, that the plan will be greater and more awesome then we could possibly imagine. I know that that does not answer the question, but we have to understand the God’s ways are bigger than our ways, and we must learn to trust that he has our best interest at heart at all times and in all things.
But I think that the most important message of this gospel comes at the end. He says “I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.” I think St Basil the Great sums this up nicely “Our petitions are frequently not immediately granted, that our earnestness and assiduity may be increased; that we may learn to esteem the gifts of God, and preserve them with care, for whatever we procure with labour, we preserve with care, lest by losing it we lose our labour also.” This is a simple adage of life we value the things in life that we work hard to earn.
And while that is always true, there are other times when we have to wait because we are not ready to recieve the gifts that God wants to give us.. Augustine once said that “sometimes God does not grant your prayers right away because He needs time to help you prepare your heart and soul to receive it.” And isn’t this true, as children, we often dont understand the importance or responsibility of certain gifts, like a bike or a bb gun, and we have to wait until we are old enough to handle them responsibly. As adults we often have to wait for the gifts of marriage or children, because we are not ready to devote our lives to them. These times of waiting are hard, and often do not make sense to us, but God has a plan.
We might disagree with His plan or His timing, but God knows, and He is waiting as a good Father eager to give you everything you could ever want as soon as you are ready to recieve it. So, if you have an important petition, pray for it constantly. Pray without ceasing. Pray and God will hear you, and then wait, and trust, and He will provide, in His time, and in His way, and you will see miracles happen!
