I am sure we are all perfect. We pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17), we pray for those who abuse us (Luke 6:28) and we have the sort of faith that moves mountains (Matt 21:21). If only!
More realistically, we are all selfish. We pray that our children will get better marks than average in examinations, we pray that the sun will shine when we go skiing, we pray that our daughter will marry "Mr Right" - meaning someone we approve of, or someone who we can boast about to others. We forget that in the same breath, we are praying that other children will get lower marks than ours, that the next day's skiers will miss the fresh falls of snow forecast for neighbouring resorts, that if our daughter has her own feelings, she should reject them in favour of our own.
Of course, not all prayer is selfish. Prayers for our neighbours who are sick, prayers for peace, prayers for the spread of God's word, "intercession", in the sense of asking something for other people - these cannot be said to be selfish. Nor can the prayer our Lord taught and commanded us to follow, "hallowed be your name": we all pray together for the coming of God's kingdom, for universal forgiveness, that we all pass through the time of testing and come to the day when we share God's heavenly banquet.
But even if our prayers are selfless, the sick still die, the poor still starve, wars do not cease, evil regimes do not crumble. What has gone wrong?
This is not a new question. It is Job's question, "Why me?" It is the Psalmist's question, "Why, Lord, do you stand far off?" (10:1). It lies behind Jesus' words to Peter, James and John, after his fervent prayer in Gethsemane, "Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." (Mark 14:41)
One easy answer to what has gone wrong is to see in unanswered prayer "the hands of sinners." The poor still starve because we in our selfish indifference cannot be bothered to create a social system that ensures wealth is adequately shared. Wars go on because the leaders of the parties at war are not interested in agreeing on a fair way to live together. The horrors of the concentration camps, the wanton acts of al-Qa'eda, were committed by people who did not see Christ in their neighbour, but who had depersonalized their victims.
But if God could dazzle Saul into changing his ways on the Damascus road, why does God not also dazzle Robert Mugabe, Osama bin Laden, the leaders of the warring sides in Gaza? Why did he not enlighten Adolf Hitler?
Perhaps the answer lies in the Cross. God was working on Caiaphas, on Pontius Pilate, on the centurion who stood by. But God only speaks a voice in our ear, and does not point a gun at us. We have a choice, and so do the sinners. God cannot change the rules of the world around us: we cannot put the clock back, we cannot break the laws of gravity, or of cause and effect.
Prayer is not "asking God to do something" about a situation. Prayer is a chance to talk to God about our own cares, our own worries, and about the whole of God's world - for our own peace will not be complete until every sword has been beaten into a ploughshare, and every hungry mouth has been fed. Prayer is a chance to listen, and to reflect. If we feel that God has not listened, that God has got it wrong, then we should pray some more, and listen some more. If we feel God has got it wrong, we are not listening. For God never gets it wrong.
HD