But I Prayed about It!
By Stephen Rankin
There once was a man who went to talk with his pastor about a personal family catastrophe that he had managed to cause. A Christian friend of his pitched an investment idea to him that promised to bring a return three or four times the going rate for companies in a particular sector of the stock market. The man knew this possible investment was risky, but his own business had been through some recent hard times, and he could really use an infusion of cash. The man poured out his heart to the Lord, and, after a time, he felt that he had gotten an answer. He threw some big money at the investment.
In the end, the man not only failed to receive the three-fold return, but he also wound up losing a lot of money. His business went on life support. His wife was furious with him. He was deeply discouraged and confused and even more frustrated. “But I prayed about it!” he exclaimed to his pastor.
A good deal of confusion exists around how God speaks to us in prayer. It is a big topic, so in this article I am limiting my focus to just one area of concern, namely, the problem of subjectivism. The man’s plight illustrated in the story above is a prime example of what subjectivism looks like in prayer. The term “subjectivism” refers to that compelling inward sense of the absolute rightness of decision or plan, intensified by having prayed about the matter. For example, I remember, as a naïve college boy being absolutely convinced that God was bringing a certain girl and me together. Apparently, God had not spoken to her! On the basis (alone) of having prayed about something, complicated, perhaps, by cherry-picking Bible verses for confirmation, too often people can conclude that God has blessed their plan and will guarantee the right outcome.
Subjectivism in prayer is a genuine problem and not a matter for scorn and condescension. Sometimes people can make a shipwreck of their lives if prayer is not approached properly. Improper postures of prayer can also provoke spiritual crises, even if the situations are not as high stakes as the opening example.
Before going any further, it is important to make clear that I am not encouraging hesitance to ask boldly in prayer, nor is any of this to cast doubt on the fact that God does speak to us in prayer. In fact, my goal is quite the opposite. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3:18), we should find a growing efficacy in prayer, coupled with the confidence that we have real fellowship with the Triune God. As James says, we can trust the Father of lights in whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. I can name several crucial times in my own life in which I have no doubt that God spoke directly in response to my appeals.
What we need, then, is wisdom and discernment in prayer. To grow in this direction, we must recognize pitfalls and build proper theological boundaries around prayer. A good starting point is addressing the influence of our American culture. In the past fifty or sixty years, in general as a society, we have become much more prone to trust our subjective impressions. It’s a form of what the sociologist Robert Bellah calls “expressive individualism.” Many people have come to believe that to thrive and to experience the good life, they need the freedom to express a deeply felt inward core of their identity. Many Christians recognize this as problematic and disagree with the basic concept; however, we can still fall prey to its influence. Generally, it can be easy for Christians to think about their relationship with God in more individualistic terms. They therefore are more prone to a kind of Christianized version of expressive individualism. “But I prayed about it!” fits well within this framework.
What guidance can then be given as a corrective? It never hurts to start with John Wesley. In “Cautions and Directions Given to the Greatest Professors in the Methodist Societies,” published in 1762, Wesley offers this wise caution: “Do not ascribe to God what is not of God. Do not easily suppose dreams, voices, impressions (emphasis added), visions, or revelations to be from God without sufficient evidence.”
What prompted Mr. Wesley to write these words? That date, 1762, gives us a clue as it situates us in the middle of an extraordinary work of God among Methodists. In particular, the Methodists were witnessing a substantial increase in the number of testimonies to Christian perfection, the raison d’etre for the Methodist movement to exist. A whole slew of people claimed to have experienced perfect love for God and perfect freedom from sin.
Wesley was not entirely confident in the legitimacy of some of the “professors’” testimonies, however, since he did not see them exhibiting the kind of character that should accompany the experience. There should be sufficient evidence, Wesley insisted, to go along with the experience. The fruit needs to be tested.
To determine the legitimacy of the experience, then, such professors then and now need to apply certain guidelines.
The first guideline is always to start with Holy Scripture. “Try all things by the written Word, and let all bow down before it,” Wesley admonished. Therefore, we test the impressions that surface in prayer: Are they firmly grounded in Scripture? Do they align with what Jesus teaches about the kingdom of God? Do the align with what Scripture says about holiness?
Or course, determining whether a particular conviction gained through prayer is supported by Scripture takes some work; thus, this guideline helpfully slows down the decision process. It also calls for us to test our sense from Scripture with other wise Christian friends. In the same context as mentioned earlier, Wesley speaks of the importance of “consulting the children of God.” It’s a reminder of the proverb that “in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs11:14b).
Finally, along with searching Scripture and asking for counsel, we consider the disposition of our hearts: Is my heart open, humble, and yielded to good guidance, even if that guidance cautions me away from what I feel strongly about how God is leading? Is my mind changeable on the matter? Again, along with Scripture, we need input from others to know our own hearts.
Once more, the goal of this writing is not to incite such caution about prayer that someone is afraid to trust what they sense God is saying in and through prayer. Instead, the goal is for more of us to gain wisdom, confidence, and efficacy in prayer, and to live more fully in light of what Scripture says about prayer. “But I prayed about it,” by itself, is an insufficient measure. We can do better.
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