Praying When Times are Difficult
We recently experienced several mass shootings back to back, in California, Texas, Ohio, and Kansas. Hurricanes and wildfires have devastated the Bahamas and California. Upheaval in the U.S. with our polarized politics down racial, political, religious (and denominational), and [insert polarizing topic of choice] lines is making daily headlines alongside violent protests in Hong Kong, fires destroying the Amazon, and the tragedy facing millions of people in places like Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Honduras, and El Salvador who are victimized and displaced due to armed conflicts, economic collapse, food insecurity and violence. As a believer, it’s easy, with all that is going on, to go “Where do I even begin to pray?” Sometimes it seems pointless to even try, and I admit that there are times when I wonder, “Why even bother?”
But then I wonder what it says about the God I claim to believe and serve when, as His child, I don’t see the use in using the most powerful tool He gave me, prayer. We sometimes even fall into an attitude that we’d rather be gone than deal with this world. But Jesus said this in his own prayer to his Father, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15). If Jesus himself is praying for his followers to stick it out with the protection of Almighty God, then there is something more important for us to be doing than joining him in heaven. It’s praying for heaven to join us down here.
But how to pray when things seem so hopeless?
- Remember that nothing is ever as hopeless as it looks. We live in the day of 24-hour news cycle and never-ending social media updates. News media makes money from sensationalizing death, contention, and contrariness. They sell ad space to keep it on the air. But the truth is that news and social media are very small samples of often the most outrageous stories happening around the world. I find my hope in humanity returns the less I pay attention to the news and the more I pay attention to those around me who are working hard to make a better community. I see regular people with regular joys and struggles who are making a difference in the lives of others in ways that the news will never report on and probably doesn’t make for a good photo on Instagram. And that should give cause for prayer. 1 Timothy 2:1 says, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.” We should always seek to pray for the people instead of focusing so much on the situations we hear about.
- Remember that trouble is inevitable. “In this world you will have trouble,” Jesus told his disciples (John 16:33). I don’t put this out there to say, “Well, you should know trouble’s coming, so suck it up.” Jesus knew he was going to the cross, but he still got down on his knees and begged God for the cup to pass (Matthew 26:36-46). I think it’s okay to feel sad or disheartened or troubled by the situations of the world. Jesus was constantly moved with compassion at the troubles the crowds brought to him, or disheartened by the disbelief of the Jews and his own disciples. But he never allowed that to stop him from moving forward with his mission. And even his own agony at the thought of what he would endure on the cross did not keep him from praying, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). This tells me that, even if I don’t have any fancy prayers for the heartache and suffering I see, I can still pray that God’s will be done.
Pray, knowing that God is sovereign over the trouble. In John 16:33, Jesus doesn’t just tell his disciples that there will be trouble, he also tells them, “But take heart. I have overcome the world.” For believers, our hope is in Jesus Christ at the end of the day, who has conquered death, hell and the grave. He has already claimed victory over everything this world has to throw at us, something we should remind ourselves whenever we sense hopelessness and anxiety start to keep us from going to Him in prayer. When situations change and seem hopeless, when trouble seems to surround, I must remind myself that my God has already gotten victory over this troubled world, and then pray from that victory, pray from that place of hope, believing that He will make a way.
Blog photo by Pawel Janiak