Their Prayers Were Answered

It was great to hear that Thomas Hamill had gotten free from is captors today in Iraq. His story really touched me in a way that some of the other hostage stories haven't. He was an unemployed man trying to find a way to support his family, so he took a job as a driver in Iraq for Kellogg Brown & Root. I guess I can identify with him a little easier than I could with the mercenaries that were killed over there. Hamill just seems to be an ordinary working stiff that got caught up in things. Anyway, I was very pleased to hear the he had escaped.

Something bothers me though. The family and the church they attend say their prayers were answered. Okay, let's acknowledge that their prayers were answered. What bothers me is - what about all those other families whose loved one didn't come back alive? Were they not praying? Were they not praying hard enough? Were they praying hard enough, but there just weren't enough of them?

On another question, what about those families who didn't pray at all, but their family member is going to come home alive?

How does all this square with what or who they were praying to or not praying to? The Book of Job tells us that even the most righteous can get a raw deal. It goes on to say that Job's friends had it all wrong. He really had done nothing wrong. It makes you wonder just what God is all about.

This notion that we can pray to get something from God treats God as some sort of powerful genie that can fulfill our wishes - if he just wants to. And it seems to denigrate God by casting him as some kind of servant or a real son of a bitch. However, I must admit that prayer does seem to work - sometimes. For example, those times like Thomas Hamill's, or when someone unexpectedly recovers from a very serious illness.

What are we to make of this? Do we decide that since prayer works some of the time to just go ahead and try it all of the time? Do we do like others I've heard, and not trouble God with every little thing? I must say that this is a real quandry, and I have no answer for it.
- posted by Marcos @ 6:31 PM