Hello Out There…

In the critically acclaimed and box office blockbuster movie Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, a Fed Ex employee finds himself stranded alone on a deserted island after a plane crash. Covering a span of four years, his life is on display as the viewer watches his struggle against the elements, loneliness and depression.  As a tale of the triumph of the human spirit, the film is close to perfection in every way…save one.  Not once in the over two hour movie is there even a hint of Hanks character crying out to God or a deity of any kind.  Oh, he creates a friend out of a volleyball he names Wilson with whom he can have some sort of connection.  But as far as seeking divine help or communion…absolutely nothing. 

My first reaction to this notable absence was “how unreal!”  Does such a person exist, made in the image of God, who for four years—separated from every human connection—never once utters, “hello out there!  God, if you exist, can you hear me?” It can be argued that just because that exchange was not in the script does not mean it could not have happened.  It’s just that for a film depicting virtually every other human emotion and struggle, this omission seemed rather glaring…at least to me.

It brings to mind just how mysterious the very act of prayer is.  Think about it: we little creatures, little “bugs” on this planet, if you will, attempt a conversation with an unseen, untouchable Person or Power and often at times when we are most vulnerable.  What exactly is this thing called prayer anyway?

Google the word and you get soup to nuts. Among the entries: “a devout petition to god or an object of worship, spiritual communion with God or an object of worship, a formula or sequence of words used in or appointed for praying (i.e., The Lord’s Prayer), an earnest request or wish, a petition; entreaty, a negligible hope or chance (“tried hard, but didn’t have a prayer of getting that job”), or a religious service consisting chiefly of prayers.”    

Speaking personally, some of my earliest influences regarding prayer appeared in a variety of forms—a wall plaque here, a miracle there.  In our dining room, a small, insignificant wall hanging dangled precariously, displaying a simple message: “Prayer Changes Things.”  I couldn’t eat a bowl of Cheerios or down one of Mom’s store-bought fish-sticks without being reminded that life had a bigger purpose and that, unlike my chores and bedtimes, not everything had been pre-determined. 

Most of my childhood prayer life was of the ritualistic variety.  Meal prayers, nighttime prayers, church prayers—most everything was some memorized recitation topped off with the Uber-prayer, the Our Father.  That all changed when my mom announced one morning that God had answered her prayers and healed my brother Mark of deafness in one ear (the other one worked fine).  It was, as I recall, the first time I really began considering that prayer changes things.  What exactly it changes remains a subject of large debate. 

In the movie Shadowlands, for instance, based on the relationship of C. S. Lewis and his late-in-life love-of-his-life Joy Gresham, Lewis is portrayed as a man who prays a lot. When Joy discovers she has cancer, Lewis prays even more.  When her cancer goes into remission, Lewis’s pastor tells him, "God is answering your prayers." Lewis replies with fervor: "That's not why I pray--I pray because I can't help myself--the need flows out of me. It doesn't change God; it changes me."

In the case of my brother Mark, one of the results of my mom’s prayers was a dramatic change in his physical condition.  In observing Mom’s enthusiasm over this new discovery, I concluded that prayer had changed her as well.  Throughout the Bible, we are given examples of God’s activity and intervention in the lives of people as a direct result of their crying out to Him. 

In one of his most compelling treaties on prayers, Jesus encourages us to:

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matt. 7:7-11). 

The apostle James puts it in the negative form:

“You don’t have because you don’t ask God.  And when you [do] ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”  (James 4:2,3)

Is prayer really all that important? After all, we in America are a sophisticated, an educated people.  We should be able to figure out life’s problems on our own, right? Consider this:

One of the most glaring omissions from the life and ministry of Jesus recorded in the gospels is a listing of any kind of resource library from which He drew all his amazing insights.  You and I will spend hours (literally years) of our life reading books, going to seminars, watching videos to glean a bit of wisdom in an effort to help us navigate this mysterious journey we call life.  Where did Jesus go?  To the word of the prophets and to His Father’s heart in prayer.  The result?  A singular life of unparalleled joy, purpose, and accomplishment.  In the history of the world there has been none like Him, nor will there ever be. Does prayer matter?  We might want to consult the expert.

tad