“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42
“Prayer is not a machine. It’s not magic. It is not advice offered to God. Our act, when we pray, must not, any more than all our other acts, be separated from the continuous act of God Himself, in which alone all finite causes operate.
If would be even worse to think of those who get what they pray for as sort of court favorites, people who have influence with the throne. The refused prayer of Christ in Gethsemane is answer enough for that.
And I dare not leave out the hard saying which I once heard from an experienced Christian: “I have seen many striking answers to prayer and more than one that I thought miraculous. But they usually come at the beginning: before conversion, or soon after it. As the Christian life proceeds, they tend to be rarer. The refusals, too, are not only more frequent; they become more unmistakable, more emphatic.”
Does God then forsake just those who serve Him best? Well, He who served Him best of all said, near His tortured death, “Why has thou forsaken me?” When God becomes a man, that Man, of all others, is least comforted by God, at His greatest need. There is a mystery here which, even if I had the power, I might not have the courage to explore.
Meanwhile, little people like you and me, if our prayers are sometimes granted, beyond all hope and probability, had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage. If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent, with far less help, to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle.”
C.S. Lewis in “The Efficacy of Prayer” in The World’s Last Night: And Other Essays (Orlando: Harcourt, 1987) 10-11.
Today I embark on a long journey. God is sending me to distant posts in Brazil, then New Zealand, then Australia. It’s not because I am anything special. I am just one of many little people willing to go wherever God leads, and I have an amazing wife, Jenni, who supports me to serve God in this way.
Before departing I reflected on prayer in the thinking of my favorite professor, C.S. Lewis. His generous inspiration came in a form I least expected. He reminded me not to depend on answers to prayer for my courage, but like Jesus, to trust the faithful will of the Father.
So, what does this have to do with generosity? The example of Jesus reminds us that the greatest act of generosity for you and me is surrender, to be obedient to do whatever task God calls us. He never said it would be easy, but He promised His presence with us. What a gift!