Have you ever prayed really really hard for something and not had that prayer granted? Have you ever looked back in life at a prayer you once made and thought thank goodness God didn’t grant it? This week’s gospel reading is a lesson in prayer, but more importantly, it’s a lesson in having faith that God is a parent who will not let us down.
Let’s face it, we pray hardest to God when we want something. We pray hardest when something seems beyond our human means and we need some kind of miracle, this often leads us to make inappropriate prayers. How many of us pray that the love of our life will notice us in the launderette? How many of us pray to win the lottery and make secret deals with God that we will donate half the winning to charity in return? How many of us pray to God for our football team to score a winning goal in the closing minutes of a match? Worse… we lose faith when such prayers aren’t answered! We find it difficult to believe that unanswered prayers might mean that God knows better, or has a different purpose for us.
Perhaps Jesus’ disciples shared some of our frustration when they say, “Lord teach us to pray.” In response Jesus gives us a model by which to pray. It’s important to recognise it as a model and not a prayer as such. Reciting a prayer is not the same as praying. The model prayer Jesus gives us, ‘The Lord’s prayer’, invites us to pray to God as our Father, acknowledging his holiness and praying with the shared commitment to have his will done on earth. We are invited to pray for our ‘daily bread’, in other words, for the things we genuinely need. Pray for forgiveness, and promise to forgive others. Pray with persistence. Payer is about building a relationship with God, speaking to him often throughout the day. Lastly, and most importantly we should approach God with the faith we approach a loving parent. “What father,” reasons Jesus, “would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?” or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?” Even parents with very average parenting skills know how to give children what they need. “How much more,” says Jesus, “will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”