Testing The Power of Prayer – Guest article

The following article was reproduced from the Seattle church website. The Brumleys serve as elders for the Seattle Church of Christ, and provide oversight for the South Sound Church of Christ.

The idea of a God who has both the power and the willingness to intervene in life circumstances at our request is irresistibly intriguing. So much so that for more than two decades scientists have been spending millions of dollars initiating carefully constructed studies on intercessory prayer for the sick, charting their findings, and then debating the outcomes. The supernatural is uncomfortable, if not incompatible, territory for science.

Interestingly, all but one of the documented studies found intercessory prayer to be “statistically significant” in favor of prayer as a benefit to the sick. In other words, the patients who were prayed for-without their knowledge, by the way-had better clinical health results. For believers, this offers affirmation to our faith. For skeptics, it provides little encouragement to take God or prayer more seriously as it raises questions for them about why the study results were only statistically significant instead of overwhelmingly convincing-like if everyone prayed for was instantly healed.

Unbelievers do not come from the same context as believers do when considering the nature of God. As believers we know God to be loving, compassionate, and eager to bless us. These are the traits Christians depend on when we pray. At the same time he is fair, wise and above being manipulated. We do not always judge fairness in the same way that God does; we are not privy to the depths of his wisdom; and we cannot understand why he would not be eager to prove his power by overwhelming the results of a scientific test. A common dilemma faced by believers is why God might have an alternate plan when our request is for something we deem to be selfless and good. Thus, one immeasurable factor is the superior judgment of God. As Martin Luther said, “[...] faith prays in such a manner that it commits everything to the gracious will of God; it lets God determine whether it is conducive to his honor and to our benefit.” Even Jesus, the night before he died, prayed to avoid the crucifixion adding “yet not as I will, but as you will (Matthew 26:39).” The will of God said “no” to Jesus’ request.

God always has the option to say no. In II Corinthians 12:7-10, the apostle Paul recounts his own experience with God’s refusal to grant his request, but he had the advantage of hearing an explanation from God. After Paul prayed three times for healing, God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” It wasn’t Paul’s preference, but he accepted the fact that somehow he was more useful to God with his handicap.

From a human perspective, it is hard to understand why God would not want everyone to be healed. We often have more faith in the imperative validity of our request than in the One to whom we are making that request. But the Bible is repeatedly clear that God value in suffering and has his own purposes in it. James 1:2-4, explains that trials develop maturity and perseverance within the human character. Romans 5:3-5 also points to the development of patience and hope. God is often more concerned with changing our character than our circumstances.

As science grapples with the meaning of the results of multiple double-blind studies that prove a correlation between healing and prayer, in the end they are left with only a correlation. That’s all, just a correlation.

No matter what scientific data may establish, there is no catalyst for statistics and faith. God cannot be reduced to a probability factor. He is not the great vending machine in the sky and our prayers are not the coins. In fact, God says that it is not the manipulation of nature that should convince man of God’s existence, but rather nature itself. “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse [for not believing] (Romans 1:20).” He expects us to connect the dots and the dots are not that far apart! Perhaps this is the reason he feels we already have enough evidence for his existence and is unwilling to cooperate with our little experiments.

Prayer is not the standardized form we fill out and present to some cosmic desk clerk with giant rubber stamps marked “APPROVED” or “REQUEST DENIED.” Prayer is a conversation with a trusted friend, albeit, an all-powerful, omniscient one. It is about relationship and dependence and trust and love.

It is by faith alone, then, that we turn to a caring, attentive God who longs to bless us, and has the power to heal us and the wisdom to know what is best. It is through respect and humility that we embrace our own inadequacy to decide how and when our prayers should be answered. And it is with hope that we look expectantly for his answers whether they exactly match our requests or not and trust that His decisions are better than our own.

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