A Look at Our Human Predicament

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

REINHOLD NIEBUHR, "THE SERENITY PRAYER"

There are moments in life when we feel there is nowhere to turn. It seems God has forsaken us, that all hope for happiness and peace of mind is lost. We have offered impassioned prayers. We have begged, pleaded, cajoled.

We have bargained with God. We have promised that if only this one deeply longed-for desire is fulfilled, we will change our ways, become more spiritual, give up our self-centeredness and unkindness, renounce our addictive and unhealthy behaviors. We have prayed to have some desperate wish fulfilled, to have what we feel we need to be happy. Sometimes we are asking for something mundane and simple. Other times we are asking for a "miracle" to occur.

We ask for some healing. The disease gets worse.

We ask for a loved one to be healed and protected. They die.

We ask for our financial life to improve. We go bankrupt.

We ask for a beloved partner to help us heal a damaged relationship. They file for divorce.

We ask for the hurricane on the horizon to be diverted out to sea. Our community gets hit head-on.

We ask for a war to end. It becomes even more violent.

Sometimes we ask to feel the presence of God, of the Divine, in our lives. We want to know that God is here with us. Yet all we feel is a blank, empty, meaningless void.

At other times we use prayer as a means of discovering the power of the Divine. We ask God to prove His existence to us, to affirm His love for us, to demonstrate His power and dominion over everything.

In circumstances where we already feel connected to that power and presence, we sometimes ask the Divine to affirm that our prayers are heard, that our devotion is rewarded, that what we long for is in harmony with what God has planned for us.

Surely an all-good God wouldn't allow evil, disease, and suffering to exist. Surely an all-loving God would want us to be happy. Surely an all-powerful God can protect us from illness, misfortune, and danger. Yet there are times when our most impassioned, fervent, deeply felt prayers seem to be ignored.

We ask, and get rebuffed. Without explanation or comfort. We have identified the door we wish our Creator to open for us, and it is slammed in our face with a seemingly heartless indifference.

How do we go on? How do we find our faith?

How do we find our faith ... again?

* * *

There are many perspectives we can take at these moments. We can conclude that God is not all-good, all-loving, all-powerful. We can conclude that God does not love us. We can conclude that we are being punished for something.

We can even conclude that there is no God.

But what if our "unanswered" prayer is not a demonstration that God is imperfect, or that God is not all-powerful, or that our relationship to God is imperfect?

What if our unanswered prayer is not meant to punish us or torture us? What if our unanswered prayer is not a demonstration that there is no God? What if our unanswered prayer is, rather, an invitation for us to discover God by looking deeper?

What if our unanswered prayer is showing us that it is our understanding of God that is imperfect?

* * *

Surveys, polls, and research studies consistently show that most human beings believe in God. And most people who believe in God offer prayers to God.

To determine whether the act of praying causes any scientifically measurable effect in peoples' lives, a number of recent research studies have focused specifically on the effects of prayer. These studies have questioned whether prayer makes any verifiable positive change in the life and health of those who pray, and those who are recipients of prayer.

One of the foremost spokespersons for this research is Dr. Larry Dossey. His books Prayer Is Good Medicine and Healing Words have explored clinical evidence that seems to demonstrate that prayer can have both measurable and verifiable positive effects. Many studies appear to show a correlation between positive change in people's lives and health when they pray, and when prayers are offered on their behalf.

What is most striking about this research is that it has also shown that, in certain circumstances, an individual need not be a believer and need not even know that prayers have been offered for him or her. It is still possible, at times, for such individuals to receive the benefit.

In many spiritual communities, there is a basic underlying belief that answered prayers offer positive proof of the existence of God, the power of God, and the all-merciful nature of God. Answered prayers are interpreted as demonstrations of the existence of that which is beyond human understanding ... an all-powerful Supreme Being who can — at will — supersede the fundamental laws of science and can orchestrate "miraculous" events.

Furthermore, answered prayers are often interpreted as implicit confirmation that the person who prays and the recipient of the prayer have won God's favor, have somehow pleased the Creator, causing Him to bless them with healing, happiness, success, and relief from suffering.

If we acknowledge all of the evidence that miracles can and do occur, and we accept the scientific data that indicates a demonstrable correlation between prayer...