Saturday, July 5, 2008
It is a kind of pride to insist that none of our prayers should ever be petitions for our own needs: for this is another subtle way of trying to put ourselves on the same plane as God - acting as if we had no needs, as if we were not creatures, not dependent on Him and dependent, by His will, on material things too.Early on in my Christian life I had the mistaken idea that it was somehow presumptuous to pray for myself. I felt that this was somehow selfish, and that "God had more important things to worry about".
- Thomas Merton
I heard other people who shared this philosophy. "I never pray for my own needs, only the needs of others," they would say.
That feels right, doesn't it? Isn't that the way we should be? Isn't that the more selfless approach to prayer that we should all strive for?
Well, no. No it's not. And, thankfully, I learned early on that I was wrong to not carry every burden, every request to God. Now, of course, I am not to pray only for my own needs. In fact, the amount of time I spend praying for myself should probably be just a small portion of my total prayer time. But I mustn't forget the reasons why I pray for myself. I am dust and ashes, weak and sin-susceptible and totally inadequate, on my own steam, of living a life that even approaches Godliness. My deepest need is for the Lord, in whose hands are held all the answers, all the power, all the rescue, and all the provision one could want in this life.
The minute I start treating God like he is an overworked genie in a bottle who has "much more important things to worry about than my requests" is the minute that I have brought God down to my level.
He's not stressed-out by my requests. His grace is more than sufficient for my every need, and I'm a fool if I don't run to him every single day and cast my every inadequacy at the feet of his majesty.
God told us to ask. It seems presumptuous to me to ignore that fact.