Wanting to Pray

Wanting to Pray

Following a recent hospital stay a change was observed in my wife’s 98-year-old mother. She still remained the gracious, godly woman she had always been. But she quit asking! Apparently the experience of being waited on hand and foot had removed from her the desire to ask her daughters and other home caregivers for what she needed. But she reckoned without the persistence she herself had passed on to her children. They were determined to help her remember once again the importance of asking. Even when they knew exactly what she needed, it was necessary to her own well-being to put her needs into words.

We often make the same mistake when we grow old in faith.

Why pray when God already knows what we need?

It is important to our spiritual well-being to WANT. When an elderly person arrives at the place where they no longer express any wants, it indicates a lack of interest in having a provider. The hospital provider was seen as performing a duty. The home care provider needed to be seen as one who cared, one who was providing because of love.

It is important to our spiritual well-being to ASK. Asking expresses a dependence which is not present when a person assumes that help will be given automatically. When we fail to ask God for what we need, assuming that He knows and will provide automatically, we lose our sense of dependence on Him. It is good for us to voice our needs in words, reminding ourselves that we cannot face life without complete dependence on Him.

It is important to our spiritual well-being to TRUST. An argument could be made for the fact that placing yourself in the care of a hospital is trust. However, it is a trust based upon payment. We trust doctors and nurses because they are being paid to provide care. We must never come to the place where we think God is caring for us because of payment. There is nothing we can do to pay Him for His provision. Trust involves believing that He will provide even though we can do nothing to pay for His care.

A short time after her return to our home, my wife’s mother returned to wanting, and asking and trusting as well.
As we settle into life with God in His family, may we learn the same lesson.