A Prayer for Understanding

Lord,
I know that an overwhelming majority of people pray. Even atheists pray some of the time. And when the fate of a loved one is at stake, everyone prays.

Yet in spite of our prayers, not all of our loved ones make it off the mountain. Some fall to their deaths. Some fall sick and die. Some fall prey to freezing weather.

So what makes the difference?

Good equipment? Good balance? Or is it just good luck?

And how does prayer fit into it all?

People pray and live. People pray and die.

Is it some formula that makes the difference? Some special wording? What?

I know you care about what happens here in this world. You created it. You sustain it. You sent your Son to die for it.

So why don’t you intervene more often? Why don’t you respond more quickly—especially when the prayers are so urgent?

I sometimes feel like a child in a world that has lost its wonder, in a world that has turned scary with shadows, and I can’t find my way home.

Please be patient with all my questions, especially with the ones that seem so childish.

And grant that in my faltering prayers I might stumble across a question that leads me closer to you.

via Ken Gire, The Northface of God, ©Tyndale House Publishers 2005