Prayer Is Overrated

Prayer is overrated. Prayer is important, but not that important. I don’t know how many times I’ve been in a store when I’ve witnessed a child telling their parents, “I want that!” After countless “No’s,” the bawling child says, “But I need it!” As a bystander, I empathize with the parents’ embarrassment, discomfort, and frustration because no matter how long and how loud the child screams, I know that the child does not “need it.”

Over the years, I have witnessed some Christians behaving in a similar way as these children. As “adults” we may not throw tantrums and our prayers are a little more sophisticated than the whining of our children, but sometimes our begging and pleading are deaf to the “No’s” of God. It is in this context that I say that prayer is important, but not that important.

James says, “You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss…” (James 4:3a). What I hear James saying is that sometimes our prayers are not answered because we pray in ignorance to God’s will or to what God desires. Jesus knew exactly what the Will of the Father was. It is on this basis that He prayed, "Abba, Father, everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will." (Mark 14:36)

Granted, we are not Jesus and we are not filled with all the wisdom and knowledge of God. But before we can make sense of what’s going on around us, and before we can even hope to “keep in step with the Spirit,” we need to know which direction the Spirit is going. We need to know what God’s will and desires are. This is why we have been given Scripture—so that we can come to know and trust God.

Having said this, I don’t think that we should stop praying and even pouring out our hearts out before God. What I mean is that we should not be so busy talking that we are not open to hearing the “voice of God” as revealed in Scripture.

In the story of Job, Job had a lot of things to say and a whole lot of questions. But in the end, Job was still not privy to the workings of God and not all of Job’s questions were answered. But after he heard the words from God, he confessed, “…Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know…My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent..." (Job 42:3-6). Job still did not understand a whole lot of things, but he had come to know and trust God and that was enough.

Peter writes, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness” (II Peter 1:3). If our prayers are not being answered to our satisfaction, it just might be because we are looking for answers in all the wrong places.