Prayer Lottery?

How does God decide which prayers to answer?

Does he answer them all or is it the luck of the draw?

Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense.  Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside.  Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.  When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.  Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. - Luke 1:8-13

It might appear in today's reading from Luke that Zechariah got lucky.  Lots were drawn and he picked the one that got him an audience with God, just when God was in the mood to grant a prayer wish.

How would we all feel if that were true?

Would we like the idea of God randomly selecting the prayers he would answer?

In Zechariah's day, it was believed that the best way to leave a decision up to God was through random chance.  If there was no way man could manipulate the outcome, the hand of God had to be in the selection process.

So, as bizarre as it might sound to us today, the random selection of balls in the lottery cage would have been attributed to God's will.

Now before you run out to buy a lottery ticket, you should know that studies show most lottery winners wind up in a worse financial and physical state down the road than if they had not won.

That said, it would be nice to try, right?

Anyway, back to Zechariah.  There is no challenging the fact that God is interfering in the natural order of things by giving Elizabeth the ability to have a child.  And while we love the idea that we have a free will and can set our own path, we fully accept God's decision to jump in and change the course of our lives.

Why is that?

Sure it is true that God granted the couple's wish, to have a son, but he put some conditions on that, didn't he?  He gave them a son with a mission, one that would serve God's purposes, and  that's the part we may not think about when we say our prayers at night.

When God calls us to serve, he expects us to change, so it makes sense that when we call upon God for something we want, we would have to accept his conditions, right?

Zechariah and Elizabeth wanted something that wasn't in the cards, or at least it didn't seem likely that it was.  God heard their cries and said, "OK, but here is my offer.  See what you think about this."

I believe when Jesus told us that anything we ask for from the Father in Jesus' name will be given, he didn't say there were no conditions attached.

The very fact that we ask in the name of Jesus should mean that we are walking in the way of truth and light at the time.  We have to begin in the right place and be ready to do what God wants us to do.  And if we feel God's call to us to serve is not what we signed up for, we are not in that place to begin with.

Does that make sense?

Zechariah and Elizabeth had to be ready to do God's will before asking for a son.  As it turns out, when Zechariah had issues, God silenced him, and made him wait it out.

So, this story of a priest offering to be selected, being chosen and having to deal with the consequences, is the story of our lives.  It is why we struggle with our faith.  Sometimes what we say we want, we are not fully committed to deal with.

So, as we ready ourselves for Christmas, we have food for thought.  What is it we are wishing for, or praying for?  Have we purchased our ticket and are waiting for God to pick our prayer to answer?

Be careful what you pray for.  It will change you.

More to come...


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