We think God should give it to us because it is so small and unimportant, such a little thing. C'mon God, it's not going to disrupt your plan for the world much, if at all. Why not give us this little thing, which would make us disproportionately happier for little effort on your part. We are almost asking in annoyance. Not almost. I have asked in annoyance before.
Yet we also think he should answer it because it is so large and import. Jesus, this is my wife I'm asking for. I would trade everything I own for this.
I think God is pleased when we come to him in prayer of any sort, because it shows we are slowly understanding reality. But beyond that, I don't know his opinion of our different prayers.
I think it's important to recognize if we're praying for a big thing or a little thing, but I no longer feel ashamed to ask for little things. I call those "pass-the-salt prayers." The greatest emperor will spend his day listening to requests about armies and wars, treaties, famine relief, and all manner of great issues, but when he retires to hischambers for a quiet dinner with his family, his smallest child may ask "Please pass the salt, Daddy," and that, too, is a request, and in no way improper.
ReplyDeleteI think God is pleased when we come to him in prayer of any sort, because it shows we are slowly understanding reality.
ReplyDeleteThere are three propositions in this sentence:
1) ("I think") God is pleased when we come to him in prayer of any sort.
2) This shows that we are coming to understand (reality).
3) Because of 2, 1.
Proposition 1 strikes me as very plausible and well-supported by scripture. I think 2 and especially 3 are interesting theological propositions, and can imagine a long and developed argument about each of them.