A story is running in our local newscasts about U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. He's been absent from the public eye for a while, and now it's being reported that he is dealing with severe physical and emotional ailments. Details are scant. Privacy has been requested.
The family has also asked for thoughts and prayers.
Now I'm not political, and I'm not a fan or critic of the Jacksons. I admit, I haven't prayed for him yet, but I have hoped things will go well for him. That was my initial response to this story. But then, on channel nine news yesterday, they had a video of one of his former foes, Debbie Halvorson. She was skeptical, that look was in her eyes, and she said something so dumb.
I don't have a direct quote, but the gist of her comment was, "They've asked for good thoughts and prayers, but how are we supposed to pray for him when we don't really know what's wrong?" She had a "Church Lady" feel about her that just didn't sit well with me.
My first thought was, "Way to attempt to stir up controversy, lady." My second was, "What a stupid thing to say."
Yeah, dumb then stupid not too nice of me in a post about God, eh? But I'm being candid here.
The thing is, the God thing is, HE knows. So for people who asked such things, "How do we pray?" The answer is simply, remember that even when you don't know they details, truth, or situation, God will know exactly what you're praying about. To ask for more details in order to know what to pray for is an attempt to gather information for our little minds to make judgments about, it's not going to help God any.
Do you find yourself doing that? I do. And when I do that, when I ask for more than just the hurting person's name (because that makes it more real to me and I actually remember to pray), when I ask for details, what I'm really asking for is gossip. I hate that about myself, which is exactly why I didn't like it from the woman on air. Her behavior called mine out.
And I felt ashamed.
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5 comments:
great post! hits home today for sure.
I agree with you. He knows before we ask, He wants us to ask though.
Amen....couldn't have been stated better.
He knows and we don't need to know. Our knowing won't change His will in the matter and that's what we should be praying for.
Sounds to me like she was digging for dirt on Jesse. I'm no fan of his, but God did say to love our enemies. I'd pray for any one at any time.
Oh Ellen, I think you are being too hard on yourself. I don't believe for one second that you're asking for gossip. God knows why you want to know the details - to pray to Him for grace and mercy. He tells us to be specific in our prayers to Him. Doesn't mean that's the only way we can pray, but certainly I think it means He wishes us to create a relationship with the people we are praying for. He knows that if we are intimately connected to the people in our prayers, we are more likely to be yoked together in Christian love. I believe, it's easier to separate ourselves from someone if we don't pray for them by name or if we omit the specifics. If we have some roadblock in our hearts for that person, and we do pray for them by name & with details, it is harder for that roadblock to stay in place. God gave us those directions because he knows that about us. Because he created us to be that way. Does that make sense?
Ellen, you are such a kind woman, don't let yourself believe that praying for someone's help, in any way, could ever be a bad thing! <3
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