You Give It All But I Want More

Prayer has been a hot topic recently. Since the collapse of Fabrice Muamba in the midst of the Tottenham-Bolton FA Cup match last Saturday, the usually "earthly" world of football has been full of people declaring that they are praying for Muamba, and imploring the rest of us to do the same. Jermain Defoe, Stuart Holden, Kyle Walker and even Wayne Rooney have taken to twitter to announce that they are praying for him ... I wonder if the Almighty has a Twitter account?

Its got me thinking about prayer, and my prayer in particular. Praying for others, the sick, the poor, the oppressed is something we are all called to do, along with doing whatever we can to help them of course. But how often are our prayers little more than shopping lists of things that make our life easier - trivial things, like being able to find a parking space when we go shopping, or not getting held up in a traffic jam on my way home for work.... are these really the things that we should be praying about?

After all, this its the Almighty, All-powerful creator God we are talking to when pray. The God who, even in creating us, has given us more than we deserve. The God who, while we were sinners, sent his only son to die on a cross for us, the God who, in a very real way has given us everything we have, everything he has even.... and yet we still want more from him. We still bother him with our trivial requests, we still bombard him with our shopping lists, we still talk at him, and often don't give time for him to speak back... is this really what God wants from our prayers?

And yet, perhaps he does. After all, at least in these prayers we are acknowledging him, we are recognising that he is the one that does provide all good things for us, his children. If its a choice between listening to our requests and demands for more, more, more, and silence on our part, I wonder if he'd prefer to hear those demands, particularly if we are open to hearing him reply, to acknowledging him when he does respond, even if that response isn't necessarily the one we want.

I will watch the outcome of the Muamba situation with interest. Obviously it is my hope and prayer that he will recover. But equally, if he does, I'll be interested to see who gets the credit. Along with the inevitable, and no doubt well deserved plaudits for doctors, paramedics and medical staff, will we see Defoe, Holden, Rooney et al. give the glory to Almighty God for answering their prayers?