The Mystery of Intercession

Frequently I am asked to pray for those with illnesses or personal (or family) troubles, and I count it a privilege to do so. But, I also must admit to being a bit conflicted about the nature of such prayers. Often the one requesting prayer is quite specific: “Pray that [name] might be completely healed from his [affliction],” or “Pray that the results of the test for [disease] might be negative,” or something similar. These requests reflect very real and very appropriate human concern for those we love and are quite honorable for precisely that reason. But, are they fully proper in a theological sense? That is my dilemma and the nature of my conflict: For what should I pray?

Part of my conflict is personal. I have a dear friend who, for some time, has experienced severe and debilitating pain. On one level I want to pray – and have repeatedly done so – that God might relieve his suffering and restore him to a healthy and normal life. For over one year, that did not happen. Instead, I have watched his suffering become a vehicle of grace, producing maturity, humility, patience – so many of the fruits of the Spirit – in his life. He is not now the person he was or the person he might have been but for the illness. Was the illness from God? How would I know? Was the illness used by God for his good purposes and for welfare of my friend? That I do know: yes, certainly. So what of my prayers for relief and healing – all well-intended, all offered in love and compassion? God, in his wisdom, knew better. God answered not the prayer I offered, but the prayer I would have offered had I but known his mind and his purpose. As another friend reminds me, God has four answers to prayer: Yes, no, not yet, and I have something better in mind. A bit more poetically, God speaks through Isaiah:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

So, what am I to do when asked to pray for relief or healing or other specific intent, knowing not the particular thoughts and ways of God in the matter? The answer depends, in large part I think, on our understanding of the purpose of prayer. If the purpose of prayer is to advise God on the proper course of action or to persuade God that my will should be done on earth, it matters very much that I “get it right,” that I know precisely what to pray for. But certainly, this understanding of prayer is a misunderstanding of prayer. If, instead, the purpose of prayer is to enter into the pain of a brother or sister and to carry that pain to the mercy seat of the throne of God, to take up not only my brother or sister’s cross but the cross of Christ who bore all our pain on his cross, then it matters little that I “get it right.” What matters is that I pray, that I commend my brother or sister to God’s care, that I, in my prayer, come alongside another and walk with the other in company with Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, unto the throne of God. Let God “get it right;” my privilege is simply to pray, and to pray as I can, in my ignorance, but in my trust in God’s merciful wisdom. My forebears have thought more and better about all this than I ever will, and I treasure their Godly wisdom as preserved in the following collect from the Book of Common Prayer.

For a Sick Person
O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servant N. for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon him with the eyes of thy mercy; comfort him with a sense of thy goodness; preserve him from the temptations of the enemy; and give him patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore him to health, and enable him to lead the residue of his life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that he may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Amen, indeed.