In prayer, I knock on God’s door to help me in seeking for what is his will for me to do and then I ask him to the grace, strength and courage to do it. This is not the way of the world. In a world that is increasingly secular, driven by technology and business, prayer would seem anachronistic. What people look for today are utility, productivity and cost-effectiveness. For something to be valuable and worthwhile, it must serve a function, produce a physical product or a tangible service and yield a net gain or profit. Prayer has no acceptable utility in today’s milieu; it produces no tangible product and it yields no monetary gain nor profit.
In the bigger scheme of the universe, our earth has no utility for the universe would still exist even if it were to miss one pale dot in some corner of a remote galaxy. Or, are we indeed so totally without meaning in the great scheme of things? The earth is not productive like the sun emitting light and energy endlessly to its surroundings, populated by ant-like creatures building human colonies. Or, are we building something inspired by someone greater than the sun and the entire universe? There is absolutely no monetary value to the earth when seen in the context of all the stars and the planet. If there were, we would probably be worth a few pennies. Or, are we perhaps the most precious beings in all of creation? These are some of the questions I ponder in prayer that I ask answers for; that I seek to relate to my everyday life; that I come knocking and begging for answers.
And here is my assurance:
Jesus said to the crowds, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-11