The most important prayer request

In years of travel and moving, the dominant prayer requests in all the churches we have attended are the same. Someone is sick or in trouble and the request is for healing or that God will fix the problem. While I cannot be critical of those who ask God for these things, I do wonder if our total comfort is God’ priority.

In the Bible, many Old Testament prayers are for health, safety, and the removal of affliction. Even so, some of them are instructive. Consider this portion from a prayer of King David:

Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. (Psalm 25:18)

He asks God to look at his troubles, but the emphasis is not to fix them, but to forgive his sins. Are sins and affliction connected? Sometimes. If I sin, I can get myself into all kinds of trouble. David knew this. His infamous sin with Bathsheba brought sorrow into his family for the rest of his life. Yet this is not always true. David was anointed to replace King Saul. Before that happened, he treated Saul with utmost respect even though Saul did his utmost to kill him. David did nothing to deserve this affliction.

In the New Testament, prayer is different. In fact, most that come to mind concern spiritual matters. While Jesus healed sickness, I can think of only a few prayers that focus on illness. 

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:14–16)

Even in this prayer that asks God to heal illness, it is like David’s prayer. The emphasis is on making sure sin is forgiven. James seems to make an association between the two.

People often wonder about connections between affliction, illness and sin. The Bible does say that  these negatives came into our world after sin came. That is, pain in childbearing is the result of sin. Thorns, thistles and the pain of hard work are also the result of sin. The sins of others can produce pain in my life. My own sin does it too.

Why then do Christians (who should know these things) more often ask for pain-free lives rather than ask for sin to be forgiven and cleansed? It seems more sensible to strike at the root of our problems than the symptoms. That is, while my own sin may or may not be the reason I suffer, having that cleared away gives me greater insight into the will of God about the suffering. May I not forget that James also wrote these seemingly outlandish words . . . 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

This passage and others, show that God can use suffering for my good. For one thing, affliction always tests my faith. Will I trust God no matter what? Like Job, will I pass the test of suffering even when it comes without explanation?

If nothing else, affliction is a patience builder. When troubles come and I am trusting God but He is silent, what else can I do but be patient? I can ask Him to remove the trial, but if He does not answer that prayer, self-pity or complaining turn my eyes (and faith) from Him. I become obsessed with my own personal comfort. My spiritual life not only stops growing, it declines rapidly. It is far better to trust God.

David was right. We want to make sure that God is considering our situation, and since He is all-knowing, that seems a silly request. Maybe he said it just to affirm what he already knew. God knew about the trouble; David’s focus was on forgiveness and the clarity that comes with it.

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Jesus, when you hung on the cross experiencing a trial far worse than anything I will ever endure, You did it that our sin might be forgiven. Clearly, You prioritized forgiveness of sin over Your own personal comfort.

You also brought another aspect to this by saying, “Forgive them; they know not what they do.” It was my sin, our sin, and the sin of those who drove in the nails that caused You such great pain, yet in all of it, You never asked that Your suffering be lifted. Your focus was not on the pain of affliction, but on the deeper need of our sinful hearts.

When I suffer, give me grace to be like You. Rather than be eager to have You “fix it,” help me to see beyond my struggles to the purpose You have in allowing them.