Scripture Notes: Prayer (Sirach 35)

It has happened to all of us; we pray and pray and pray, but God doesn’t seem to hear or care, much less respond. Jesus tells us, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt 7:7). So what’s going on? Why don’t we receive and find and go through an open door?

First, we must always remember that God knows what we need better than we do. He knows us better than we know ourselves. There are times when what we are praying for is not good for us or for someone else. We can only see a tiny part of the picture, a little bit of the messy back of the tapestry of life. God sees the whole thing from the front, in all its color and beauty. When He says “no” or “wait” to our prayers, we have to trust in His love. He will give us what we need but not always what we want, especially when what we want could hurt us in the long run.  

Second, we must consider how we are praying and the kind of life we are living. Sirach gives us a clue about this. He tells us that the “one who serves God willingly is heard” and the “prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds” and reaches to God and receives a response. So we have to ask ourselves: Are we serving God? Do we try to live according to His will? Are we humble in our prayers, recognizing that God is God and we are not and longing that His will be done, not ours? If not, if we are clinging to our sins, if we think we can control God or that He owes us something, then we have to make a change, for we are praying wrongly. We are not in the right stance before the Creator of all things. We are treating Him like a cosmic vending machine who has to produce when we order something up. This is not true prayer. 

Third, we must understand that sometimes we are not quite ready for God’s gifts, for the answers He wants to give to our prayers. We human beings are so small and weak and narrow. We have to be stretched to receive what God has for us. This is what St. Augustine tells us. God makes us wait so that our desire for His good gifts can grow, so that prayer can stretch us out and our capacity for God can expand. 

So we need to keep on praying, asking, seeking, knocking because God will answer our prayers in the most perfect and loving way. He will give us what is best for us, and ultimately that is God Himself.