Should I ‘bother’ God with this? Thinking about prayer, Part One

Last Thursday my friend Courtenay volunteered to help me if predicted rain brought water to my basement—again. His final text: “I’ll pray your basement stays dry.”

I thought about that prayer the rest of the evening. And later, in bed before I drifted off to sleep, I prayed, too. “Lord, I don’t know if you care about my basement. But if Courtenay is praying for it to stay dry, so will I.” And, as if God needed some special encouragement, I added, “If I wake up to a dry basement tomorrow, Lord, I’ll be sure everyone knows you answered our prayer. You’ll get all the glory from this.”

I tiptoed down the stairs Friday morning to find not one drop of water on our basement floor.

I reported this to another friend, Shawn, when we met that day for lunch. I asked him what he thinks about such prayers.

 Frivolous prayers?

This is not a new question for me. I’ve long bristled at testimonies from acquaintances or conference speakers claiming God’s intervention in everyday hassles. “God was really blessing me,” they say because they found a close-in parking spot. Everything from potty training to lost keys is the subject of their prayers.

I’ve always wondered about bothering God with issues mostly a matter of my own convenience. And I’ve sometimes suspected frivolous prayer testimonies are an unwitting way for some believers to claim a special connection to the Almighty. Yeah, your underwear would be whiter and your boss would be kinder if you just prayed more about the problem, I imagine them thinking, and it rubs me the wrong way. So I struggle not to be self-centered with my prayers.

But when does a concern become big enough finally to get on the prayer list? If I won’t pray about everyday hassles, will I soon fail to pray at all?

I asked Shawn his opinion, because I know he’s a person of faithful prayer.

He agreed that prayers for no rain on the picnic or no mice in the attic can be trivial, if not selfish. But he challenged me to think about such prayers as a part of a person’s total relationship with God, our loving Father.

Request too small? 

As a father, I know no request from my kids seems too small. Yes, I’m concerned about their flourishing as a whole person; I’m hoping they’re making a difference in the wider world. But if they have a broken toe or they need a new toaster, don’t I want to hear about it?

Years ago, my daughter came to us in tears because she’d moved into an apartment on the top floor of an old house whose owner downstairs turned out to be a chain smoker. She had no idea of that before she moved, but now the smell of stale cigarette smoke was seeping into her bedroom. She wasn’t sure she could stay there without an air purifier, which she had no money to buy. She was almost desperate when she bemoaned her situation.

You know what we did. We bought her an air purifier. I think about what Jesus said when he taught about prayer: “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,” he observed, “how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Our daughter hadn’t come to us out of the blue. It’s not as if we’d had no contact with her for months and she sought us only when she had nowhere else to go. No, we’d been closely a part of every aspect of her move. It was only natural that she’d share this latest development.

 Ongoing relationship

So it is with us and God, Shawn pointed out to me. Consider the person who has established an ongoing relationship with God about not only everyday hassles but also how they’re pleasing God with their whole life. In such a case, it’s only natural for personal problems to become a part of the conversation.

And so I’m slowly learning to talk with God about my everyday needs. After all, Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” What could be more basic or personal? Such a prayer is not selfish; it’s humble recognition that God is the source of “every good and perfect gift.” I think it pleases God, our Father, to know I’ll trust him for help.

 An answer, eventually

And along the way, I’ll thank him for giving it. Which leads me to tell the rest of the story. We had several more inches of rain Friday night. And first thing Saturday morning, I went downstairs again. This time I found puddles covering much of the basement floor.

But yet another friend, Terry, who’s helping me manage the process of finding a solution to my water problem, came with his shop vac and dehumidifier. By Sunday, the water was gone. And soon this spring, a contractor will have created a permanent solution with a lifetime guarantee.

Eventually, I’ll see the answer to Courtenay’s prayer: no water in my basement.

All of this leads me to ponder how to pray for my wife, whose everyday needs are sometimes basic, but always far from trivial. My friend Shawn helped me with that question, too, and I hope to write about it in next week’s post.

Photos by Nomadsoul1, golubovy, Stocknick, and Rustic at istockphoto.com