before the preface in Weems book, there is this quote from Madeleine L'Engle, The Irrational Season: "i have often been told that when one first turns to god, one is greeted with brilliant yes answers to prayers. for a long time that was true for me. but then, when he has you hooked, he starts to say no. this has been, indeed, my experience. but it has been more than a no answer lately; after all, no is an answer. it is the silence, the withdrawal, which is so devastating. the world is difficult enough with god; without him it is a hideous joke." (italics mine)
here are my observations. a) i have never been given the brilliant yes answers. b) 'no' is indeed an answer, and i have not received any of those either, brilliant or otherwise. c) the withdrawal implies a time of clear answers; again, not my experience. d) the italicized portion definately captures how i feel about the subject. but it does not fully express my theology. the silence is devastating for me, but does not imply god is gone or nonexistent. it simply means he is silent.
any thoughts out there?
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4 comments:
I don't know if I've ever received "brilliant yes" answers either. As I've mentioned before, when I pray about something, I often quickly get a flash of insight. But I honestly don't know if that flash is coming from God or from my own psyche.
One thought that comes to me is the scriptural concept that God is IN us. In prayer, we are often frustrated when we look for an answer from "somewhere out there." But the answer is often within us. Perhaps that's God.
I know that sounds trite ... or at least like a old cliche. And that brings me to another thought.
I've read some good stuff from Madeleine L'Engle, but I must admit that many devotional books make me wanna puke. They're often filled with these nice-sounding God-exalting religious platitudes from people who purport to share some great spiritual insights.
Frankly, the greatest abusers of this are many women speakers on Christian radio. It seems they often leave their common senses and slip into that crap. And hundreds of thousands of mindless Christian women eat it up as if it's a delicious spiritual morsel.
I don't want to sound anti-female, but I think we would have a hard time getting a female to join this blog. Is this inherently a male discussion? Do females not typically have these questions? Since males inevitably grow accustomed to being self-sufficient, are they less likely to find relief in prayer (an exercise that seeks outside help)?
i agree with the 'God IN us' idea. in the absence of tangible evidence otherwise, i try to assume that the Holy Spirit living in believers like me somehow guides or steers my thoughts and actions.
i share your disdain for devotional books in general. perhaps in the sheer volume of output one can find a nugget worth pondering. i am not familiar with l'engle, just that quote.
as for female prayer bloggers, i know one who would join and contribute. she is one of our old small group participants. she and her husband are cool people. she has been devoted to prayer for a long time. when someone needs help in prayer, they call her. she is familiar with my struggle over God's silence. she is currently in a graduate program at Brite Divinity School for hospital chaplains.
as for the male/female element, not sure where to go on that. male self-sufficiency has its place in the discussion. for me, i am one of those dudes that seems to have more failures than successes. so, when i read in my bible that one can 'ask and receive', i ask for help, expecting to receive an answer of some kind. even if the answer is 'i will get back to you on that', i can wait. just getting an answer of any kind would be great. be that as it may, if the devo stuff works for women, fine. if it has no enduring substance, then maybe that will manifest itself over time. if some good comes of it, then that is good.
I have had brilliant yes and no answers. God once spoke to me in a dream, but it wasn't him speaking at me it was a dream that revealed something I was doing wrong and what I needed to do to correct it. Oddly enough, the dream occurred about a month before I actually accepted Christ.
I have also received the "Wait" answer from God.
In my experience God is silent when I am not doing what God wants me to do. It happens when my kingdom work is stagnant. The Holy Spirit always points the way back to Christ and it isn't until I give in and recommit myself to the work to which God calls me to do I start getting answers.
so, is it safe to say that God's receptivity to my prayers is based on my performance?
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