This post is a part of a three part posting that started here… Welcome to the conversation!
We clearly live in a Westernized culture that has been deeply impacted by both the scientific and industrial revolutions.  Both of those have been unbelievably helpful to our culture and the world.  We are now able to break down complex systems (organic and inorganic) into smaller parts, study them, and in many cases reproduce or replicate them.  These processes are sometimes called systematic deconstruction, we organize something, break it down to its component parts, sort it out then begin to rebuild it. How many advances in medicine can be traced back to those processes?. How many developments in the industrial sector (that we likely appreciate in our economy all the more now) as well?
One of the issues that has come with these advances, though, is that they can tend to be overused and applied in areas where they are less helpful, or even misguided. James Watson, often called the father of Behaviorism, famously stated,
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years.â€
Even though Watson isn’t as radical as some might think him to be, he applied a deconstructionist model to parenting and most of us would say that was a misuse.
Applying a similar systematic deconstruction method, to the study of God, also is problematic.
Here is my point. I think we very naturally apply a that model to God’s response (or lack thereof) to our prayer requests.
It becomes about input and output to us. We make a godly request, and we expect God to come through on it. If he doesn’t, it becomes a process problem. Did I ask the wrong thing?  Does God not really care for me? Is he even there? We approach it the way I approach my garden hose when the spigot is on but no water is coming out. I look for the kink, straighten it, and the water starts to flow.  We assume that if we can fix the problem with the process, that we will be able to get the result we desire.
The only problem is that we know God isn’t like that.
And that is a big problem.
We know that in the scriptures he did not respond to the repeated requests of Lazarus’ family that he wouldn’t die. Lazarus actually died and only a few days later was raised from the dead. Â We know that he didn’t allow a woman to be healed of a terrible menstrual condition, until after years of her suffering. Â And we know from the latter parts of Hebrews chapter 11 that some people, whose faith God honors by the way, didn’t get their requests granted.
“Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated– 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Heb 11.35-40 NIV
How many of those do you think asked to not have their torture happen? How many asked to not need to live in caves? If you were in their position, wouldn’t you? But they didn’t get those things. But, before we get too angry at God, let’s remember he plays by his own rules. Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemeny, immediately before the process of his crucifiction was started made the most fail and honest request of the Father. He asked God if there was a way this could be avoided. There wasn’t, so it happened.
In those instances, God doesn’t intervene the way he is asked when he is asked because something larger is going on. Something bigger requires God to not use his own power. Â And that is what makes it so tricky for all of us, including my friend. Â He doesn’t know if he is in the middle of God setting something better up, in the middle of coming through regarding this job in a wild way, or if he won’t get the job at all. Â How do we use our faith when we aren’t sure what God is up to?
I think that Hebrews 11.1 “Faith is he assurance of things unseen, the promise of things hoped for.” is drawing us closer to God than a strict deconstructionist/input output approach allows us to go. God is calling us into something deeper and much better. The thing unseen that we can be assured of, is his deep and committed love for us. His full awareness of us, his commitment to us. The promise of things hoped for goes beyond what we are asking for, now it includes it, to be sure. Our requests matter to God and I believe impact him. But that promise goes much deeper. It is his promise to never leave us, to be more committed to our good than we are, to link with us, to love us.
Essentially, he is inviting us to take a deep breath and relax. To realize that he has got us, and that he isn’t going anywhere.
I remember a time when I was a kid at the bus stop and I was being bullied by some kids that lived near us. I had been cursed with a mouth that developed much more quickly than either my brain or my musculature had. I had smart-mouthed some guys that were a fair bit larger than I was –  this wasn’t super uncommon. These guys were messing with me and it was looking like things might escalate in a direction that I was not excited about. And right at that time, my dad pulled up to take me home. I think he caught wind of what was going on, as he usually just waited in the car for me to get in. This time, he got out and walked up to me. Said hello to my “friends” and then walked me back to the car.
In that moment, his presence was enough.
I think that God is a bit like my dad that day when he got out of the car. Hebrews 11 is saying to us, “I have got you, trust that. I am committed to you, believe it.”  Even if you cannot see that physically, trust it spiritually.  That is the focus of our unseen trust, our hope.
Come on back Wednesday and see how I think this thing works out…
Peace, Jim