I have always struggled with prayer. It is my constant battle, one I lose often. Tomorrow I have to preach on prayer and I am nervous because I want to say what is in my heart and hope that others benefit from it. Here are some quotes from the message from C.S. Lewis' struggle with prayer:
“Often when I pray, I wonder if I am not posting letters to a non-existent address.” –C.S.Lewis
"Where is
God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy
that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel
His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to
Him with gratitude and praise, you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open
arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is in
vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and the sound of
bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that silence. You may as well
turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become.
There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house.
Was it even inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?"
C.S.-Lewis “A Grief Observed
“Often when I pray, I wonder if I am not posting letters to a non-existent address.” -C.S. Lewis
I don't know that I doubt that there is a God, but I do wonder about his timing and if when things happen if they're for me in particular or it's just coincidence.
In the interim time that this blog has been away and I have been too, I've heard that life is about "blessings," "lessons," and sometimes both.
What can be frustrating is that God is like life, but not school. You can't explain it, just live your life and believe that God brings all things together for the good of those who love him.
Posted by: Alexander Wilhelmsen | May 06, 2013 at 07:25 PM