Praying difficult prayers
This week's verses are on Luke 22:39-46:
I've had a few friends ask me questions about prayer these past couple weeks and I thought these verses talk a bit about the sorts of things they were struggling with. One of them was asking what you do when you pray and you don't hear an answer. Another was asking what to do when you want one thing but you feel like God wants another. And another was wondering if it was selfish to pray for yourself when there are so many other people whose circumstances need prayer.
Here Jesus is praying before he is about to be turned over to the mob and crucified. He tells the disciples to pray not to fall into temptation. He knows what is going to happen, and he warns them to pray for themselves. So we can see that it's not wrong to pray for ourselves. Jesus commands it here.
The disciples don't really take him seriously though. We know what's going to happen because we've read the Bible before, or at least heard the story. Life is about to get unbearable for the disciples, but they have no way of knowing the details. They decide to get some sleep. But how many times has God put a matter on our hearts to pray for, and we don't take it seriously, or just kick it down the road a bit like it's just another day? What if they had prayer as faithfully as Jesus asked them to?
Meanwhile, Jesus prays the ultimate prayer for when you don't know what's going to happen, or you really don't like what you think is supposed to happen. These are the prayers like "I want to marry this person, but I feel like God is saying they're not the right person for me," or "I just got offered my dream job, but I also have an opportunity to do missionary work in Africa." You're either so emotionally involved in the topic that you don't know if you'd be able to hear the answer over the emotional noise, or you feel like you do know the answer but really wish you didn't.
In Jesus' case, I believe he knew what was going to happen, but I think he had human emotions and wasn't really thrilled with the idea of being tortured, humiliated, and killed if there was any way to avoid it and still get us saved. No Bible translation has Jesus saying "Yeah! Crucify me! Bring it!" But his prayer is beautiful, sharing his feelings while wanting the Father's best plan to be carried out. "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done." In other words, if there's another way for this to all play out, he's interested in hearing about that, but only if it accomplishes everything it needs to.
A lot of us would just pray not to be crucified. We look at our immediate needs, our desire to preserve what we have, or to have what we want, and that's all we see. But in doing so, we miss out on God's greater plan, and lose the benefit of his greater perspective. Imagine if Jesus had asked not to be crucified, or that Judas wouldn't be taken seriously, or that the mob would not find him. Those are all the sorts of prayers we pray, but think of what a mess they would have made for us if Jesus had prayed them and they'd been honored.
We've probably all prayed bad prayers before and got what we wanted, even though it wasn't the best plan. It's like when God listened to the Israelites constant whining about not having meat and they got sick from 24/7 quail feasting. Or when Israel asked for a king, and they ended up with wicked King Saul. I don't know why God sometimes gives into our stubbornness, except maybe to show us why we should have listened in the first place. We cry and yell and beg and then God answers our prayer, only for us to find out later that when he said "no" the first time, it was for a good reason. But on the other hand, we're not supposed to just be fatalistic and accept life as it comes, never speaking up or calling on God for help.
Jesus' prayer is beautiful because it covers both eventualities. He asks for what he wants, as we should, but he doesn't impose himself if there's a good reason for him not to get what he asks for. He's both direct and humble. You could pray that kind of prayer all day long and for any difficult situation. But it's difficult to leave the outcome in God's hands. Jesus struggled through this prayer with intense anguish. (Try praying a prayer of faith asking for something you really don't want to have happen. I bet your soul and flesh tear at each other like two cats tied up in a bag.)
What if Israel had said "We really want meat, but we want the food God has provided for us, even if it doesn't turn out to be meat." What if they had said "We really want a king, but we want to be ruled over the way God is most pleased with, even if that means we never have a king." I'd bet that they'd have avoided a lot of misery.
Jesus finally tells his disciples again to pray that they will not fall into temptation. This is another good prayer that we could pray all day long when we don't know what to pray or how to interpret the answer. In praying that prayer, you're asking to avoid choosing the wrong path, clinging to the wrong viewpoint, engaging in the wrong behaviour. You're asking for strength when strength is needed.
So these verses model some ways to tackle difficult situations where we don't really know how to have the conversation with God, or how to handle a difference of opinion, or how to move forward when you don't know all of the details yet. God is not going to refuse to give you the best option, or to include you in his plans.
But this is a matter of trust. Do your prayers show trust, or are they suspicious, even defiant "Don't you dare do X" prayers? For that matter, is there love in your prayers, or are they all demands like you're ordering a pizza and God's not getting a tip in the offering plate if it isn't served up when and how you want it? Reread the prayers Jesus prays, and see the love and trust he expresses by putting his desires second to the big picture.
Then Jesus went out and made his way, as he customarily did, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. When he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He went away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.” [Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.] When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, exhausted from grief. So he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation!”
I've had a few friends ask me questions about prayer these past couple weeks and I thought these verses talk a bit about the sorts of things they were struggling with. One of them was asking what you do when you pray and you don't hear an answer. Another was asking what to do when you want one thing but you feel like God wants another. And another was wondering if it was selfish to pray for yourself when there are so many other people whose circumstances need prayer.
Here Jesus is praying before he is about to be turned over to the mob and crucified. He tells the disciples to pray not to fall into temptation. He knows what is going to happen, and he warns them to pray for themselves. So we can see that it's not wrong to pray for ourselves. Jesus commands it here.
The disciples don't really take him seriously though. We know what's going to happen because we've read the Bible before, or at least heard the story. Life is about to get unbearable for the disciples, but they have no way of knowing the details. They decide to get some sleep. But how many times has God put a matter on our hearts to pray for, and we don't take it seriously, or just kick it down the road a bit like it's just another day? What if they had prayer as faithfully as Jesus asked them to?
Meanwhile, Jesus prays the ultimate prayer for when you don't know what's going to happen, or you really don't like what you think is supposed to happen. These are the prayers like "I want to marry this person, but I feel like God is saying they're not the right person for me," or "I just got offered my dream job, but I also have an opportunity to do missionary work in Africa." You're either so emotionally involved in the topic that you don't know if you'd be able to hear the answer over the emotional noise, or you feel like you do know the answer but really wish you didn't.
In Jesus' case, I believe he knew what was going to happen, but I think he had human emotions and wasn't really thrilled with the idea of being tortured, humiliated, and killed if there was any way to avoid it and still get us saved. No Bible translation has Jesus saying "Yeah! Crucify me! Bring it!" But his prayer is beautiful, sharing his feelings while wanting the Father's best plan to be carried out. "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done." In other words, if there's another way for this to all play out, he's interested in hearing about that, but only if it accomplishes everything it needs to.
A lot of us would just pray not to be crucified. We look at our immediate needs, our desire to preserve what we have, or to have what we want, and that's all we see. But in doing so, we miss out on God's greater plan, and lose the benefit of his greater perspective. Imagine if Jesus had asked not to be crucified, or that Judas wouldn't be taken seriously, or that the mob would not find him. Those are all the sorts of prayers we pray, but think of what a mess they would have made for us if Jesus had prayed them and they'd been honored.
We've probably all prayed bad prayers before and got what we wanted, even though it wasn't the best plan. It's like when God listened to the Israelites constant whining about not having meat and they got sick from 24/7 quail feasting. Or when Israel asked for a king, and they ended up with wicked King Saul. I don't know why God sometimes gives into our stubbornness, except maybe to show us why we should have listened in the first place. We cry and yell and beg and then God answers our prayer, only for us to find out later that when he said "no" the first time, it was for a good reason. But on the other hand, we're not supposed to just be fatalistic and accept life as it comes, never speaking up or calling on God for help.
Jesus' prayer is beautiful because it covers both eventualities. He asks for what he wants, as we should, but he doesn't impose himself if there's a good reason for him not to get what he asks for. He's both direct and humble. You could pray that kind of prayer all day long and for any difficult situation. But it's difficult to leave the outcome in God's hands. Jesus struggled through this prayer with intense anguish. (Try praying a prayer of faith asking for something you really don't want to have happen. I bet your soul and flesh tear at each other like two cats tied up in a bag.)
What if Israel had said "We really want meat, but we want the food God has provided for us, even if it doesn't turn out to be meat." What if they had said "We really want a king, but we want to be ruled over the way God is most pleased with, even if that means we never have a king." I'd bet that they'd have avoided a lot of misery.
Jesus finally tells his disciples again to pray that they will not fall into temptation. This is another good prayer that we could pray all day long when we don't know what to pray or how to interpret the answer. In praying that prayer, you're asking to avoid choosing the wrong path, clinging to the wrong viewpoint, engaging in the wrong behaviour. You're asking for strength when strength is needed.
So these verses model some ways to tackle difficult situations where we don't really know how to have the conversation with God, or how to handle a difference of opinion, or how to move forward when you don't know all of the details yet. God is not going to refuse to give you the best option, or to include you in his plans.
But this is a matter of trust. Do your prayers show trust, or are they suspicious, even defiant "Don't you dare do X" prayers? For that matter, is there love in your prayers, or are they all demands like you're ordering a pizza and God's not getting a tip in the offering plate if it isn't served up when and how you want it? Reread the prayers Jesus prays, and see the love and trust he expresses by putting his desires second to the big picture.
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