WORLD CUP PRAYERS

I love the World Cup – probably too strong an emotion to attribute to a sporting event best described by a local pastor/professor as “The #1 most important thing on the list of things that don’t really mean anything.”  He is also a soccer fan by the way!  But I still love it.  I love the image of the whole world coming together for one month each year in a way that not even the Olympics can match. 

I love the passion and identity that is on display.  Watching Costa Ricans weeping at the victory over Greece in the shoot out moved me to tears.  We humans really are so desperate to have an identity and sense of purpose and significance.  Of course, in the Christian world view, this makes total sense as being created in the image of God, we have an identity that has been lost as we indulge in the things of the world in an attempt to recover our fallen position – even things like the World Cup, ironically.

But another thing struck me during the last couple of days of personally indulging in Cup related television viewing.  I noticed in the Mexico-Netherlands and Costa Rica-Greece matches the clear presence of prayer on the part of the players.  Some players anyway.  It seems apparent that the Latin American teams have a stronger sense of prayer as a part of life than do the European teams, which fits with what we know about Christian faith in those two parts of the world.  It didn’t surprise me to see Mexican players praying as the Netherland’s forward Klaas Jan Huntelaar prepared to take the game deciding penalty kick in the 94^th minute of the Netherland’s amazing comeback victory.  In the Costa Rica game, the Costa Rica team watched on their knees as their mates took penalties after what appeared to be a group prayer before the shoot out.

Now I’m all for prayer – I believe in it and even practice it occasionally!  But I am concerned when people try to prove God based on prayer, because as near as I can tell it, we will never be able to define God based on prayer, or more accurately, on the results of prayer.  This was brought to bear by the results of the two games.  The praying Mexicans were defeated by the godless Dutch (I don’t actually know that they are godless – just assuming for the point of the essay), while the Costa Ricans prayed on their knees to victory over the pagan Greeks.  Should the Mexicans have prayed on their knees?  Was that the problem?  Did the Costa Ricans believe their prayers or say them more correctly?  Was that the key to their success?

This is vaguely interesting when it involves a soccer game.  But it becomes more significant when those facing serious issues decide to try out God through prayer.  My friend Joe has been struggling with this the last six months since his wife was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia.  She is doing well now to the point where Joe, a lifelong skeptic, is telling people to pray for his wife because “it’s been working up to now.”

Can you hear the trap in that statement?  Is prayer working only because Joe’s wife is still alive?  Does that mean that for those who were diagnosed around the same time and have not survived prayer did NOT work?  Do we have to get the results we want in order for prayer to work?

This is mostly a problem for people who are unconvinced regarding God.  But even people who follow God, sometimes for years, struggle with this idea that prayer only “works” when the results are in line with our desires.  In this arena, we also find well-meaning platitudes offered to individuals in crisis such as “God does everything for a reason.” (God GAVE my wife cancer???) and “This is all a part of God’s plan.” (God PLANNED to give my wife cancer?????).

Two thoughts about these issues.  One is that we live in a broken world.  In the end, we all die.  In the end all the prayers “don’t work.”  The prayers for healing and restoration are really prayers for things to go back to the way they were – to have things be the same.  This is a longing for the very essence of what we were created for – an eternal relationship in a perfect garden.  But it never lasts for long.  Lazarus was even raised from dead in John 11.  But apparently he died again later because he’s not still here!

The second is that there is really only one answer that everyone has access to and that is the same for everyone.  The answer is “Jesus.”  Sometimes we pray and the penalties go in and sometimes they get stopped.  Sometimes the cancer goes into remission and sometimes people pass.  Sometimes we get the job and sometimes we get fired.  But whether these worldly prayers are answered according to our desires, the promise of Jesus is always true; win or lose, death or life; Jesus remains the same.  He died. He rose again.  People saw it and told us about it.  That answer will never change.

Prayer allows us to gain strength through a secure knowledge of a God who loves us and has promised never to leave us.  That strength can allow us to endure any and every situation.  But prayer does not allow us to somehow manipulate every situation so that every situation turns out the way we want.  There is nothing in the history of the world or our own stories that suggests that prayer works that way.   It is okay to ask and even plead with God for your wants and desires, but don’t rely on prayer as a means to obtain the outcome you desire.  Rely on prayer to give you strength from God to persevere through every outcome no matter how it turns out!  You will find He's there.