Is Prayer Like a Hair Ball?

In the book Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the slave, Jim, uses a hairball from the stomach of an ox to find out what Huckleberry’s father is going to do. The information from the hairball goes like this:

. . . Yo’ ole father doan’ know, yit, what he’s a-gwyne to do. Sometimes he spec’ he’ll go ‘way, en den agin he spec he’ll stay. De bes’ way is to res’ easy en let de ole man take his own way

This kind of mumbo-jumbo is typical of fortune-telling. It is so self-contradictory that it is confusing, and it is so general that it is useless.

From time to time I hear people talking about praying for a sign from God so they can know what to do with their lives. The problem is that praying for signs is like the hairball, it is contradictory, confusing, and useless.
Recently a man came to see me. He had been praying for a sign. He had asked God for a sign about whether he should continue to pursue a relationship with a certain woman or move on to a relationship with someone else. He thought God had given him a sign to move on, but when he did move on to someone else, that new relationship didn’t work out. So, in tears, he asked me, “Why would God give me a sign to move into a relationship that was a dead-end?” He explained he was looking so hard for direction from God that he saw possible divine signs in billboards he saw, the things he read in the newspaper, etc.

Look at how confused this poor man was. In great confidence, he thought God would guide him in what to do. Instead, as he tried to follow these things he perceived as ‘signs’ he became so confused he didn’t know what to do. God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33). This is clear proof that these ‘signs’ are not from God. In fact, this man’s experience is a perfect illustration of some of the problems with trying to seek signs in daily occurrences:

1. How do you tell what is a sign and what isn’t? I do not deny that God works to provide for us here in this world, and every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17). But there are many forces at work in our world: God, Satan, the free will of our fellow men, natural law, and time and chance (Ecclesiastes 9:11). So with all these forces at work, how do we know what things are a sign from God? In point of fact, if God made his work so plain that it obviously contravened natural law and stood out as a sign, that would be a miracle. But miracles have ceased (1 Cor 13:8-10). If it is simply God’s hand working in a special providential way, then we cannot with certainty identify it. Mordecai said ‘who knows’ to Esther (Esther 4:14). Paul said ‘perhaps’ to Philemon (Philemon 15). If we can’t tell it’s a sign, it can’t be a sign.

2. If these things are ‘signs’ how do we know how to interpret them? How do we know what direction they are leading us? If it starts to rain when I go to play golf, is God telling me not to play or is he teaching me to persevere even in the rain?

3. The idea of ‘signs’ produces unnecessary guilt. A woman with physical limitations once told me that she prayed that God would not let her have a certain job if she could not handle that job. The job was offered, so she took it for a sign that God thought she could handle the physical labor. When she found out she couldn’t keep up with the demands of the job she had two choices. Either God was wrong, which she wouldn’t believe, or she was able to do the job but just didn’t have enough faith or commitment or something like that. This guilt is unfair. The pattern of God’s word does not demand that we take a specific job. This means that it is up to us where we want to work as long as it is a righteous endeavor. Where we work is a matter of our free-will, not a matter of signs from God.

4. The longing for signs indicates that we don’t believe God’s word is enough for us. Since it is able to equip us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17) there is nothing good that signs can do for us that God’s word cannot.

5. The following of ‘signs’ often leads people to violate what God’s word reveals. The man who was looking for signs about whether or not to stay in a relationship with his girlfriend had been divorced and had no right to remarry anyone except his ex-wife. Instead of looking for signs, he should have followed the guidance revealed in God’s word.

It is demeaning to reduce prayer to the effectiveness of a hairball. It is laughable to think that God wants to communicate with us but cannot do it in a decisive and clear way.
 

Family Bulletin Board

Remember in prayer and with cards, phone calls, or visits those who have chronic illnesses: Delsie Bishop, Reva Brewer, Ella Brumitt, Jamie Farmer, Francis Ferren, Elizabeth Fowler, Savannah Green, Lola Mae Hamlett, and Louise Hunt.

TODAY - Baby shower, here, at 4:30pm.
                - EYG meeting, also here at at 4:30pm.

THIS WEEK - Pancake breakfast at Mark & Lisa Reed’s home this Saturday. The griddle will be hot from 8:00-10:00am. Sign up now!!

NEXT WEEK - Bible Camp for kids 8 - 18. The dates are the 16th - 20th. Hope your applications are in!

NEXT MONTH - Vacation Bible School, July 21st -25th.  We hope you will plan to be here. Also, begin telling your friends about it now

DIRECTORY updates will be printed soon. See Laura Stark if you know of changes that should be made.

PRAYER REQUESTS - Tom Pillow continues radiation. Betty Beatty is scheduled for surgery tomorrow.