Hello,
A study was done some years ago that looked into what people prayed for when they found themselves struggling in life, and an interesting thing was discovered. The studiers found out that when people in developed countries ran into struggles, they generally prayed that God would take those struggles away from them. People in developing countries, when they were sinking in the quicksand of life’s struggles generally prayed that God would give them strength to make it through their struggles. Interesting.
This study (and I don’t remember who exactly did it) was done a good number of years ago, so I don’t know if the researchers would get the same results if the same study was done today. My suspicion is that they would, and the reason that I say that is that in developed countries, like ours, we tend to approach everything with a “let’s fix that” sort of expectation; disease, economics, social barriers, and the like. From my limited experience in developing countries, it seems to me that in many of these things, the strength of these things is greater than the resources to combat them, and so people ask for the strength to persevere through them, whether that be for a short time or a life time.
As I consider the findings of this study, I find myself feeling like the folks of developing countries have caught onto the deeper reality of life, and because of that may find their answered prayers bringing more peace to their lives. I say this because in the nearly 62 years that I have lived, it has become clear to me (hardheaded as I may be) that struggles do not go away. Some struggles pursue us with the same face every day of our lives, and other struggles pursue us likewise, but just put on different masks as they do so.
Christians have long heard Jesus’ words in Matthew and Luke that we call the Beatitudes. (“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”….and the rest.) I know that when I was younger, I heard them with my developed country ears….waiting for peace (that is the Greek word that is translated as “blessed”) to come my when my hungers and thirsts ended. But as my life and faith have aged, I find myself hearing them with the ears of those from undeveloped countries, finding myself blanketed in peace, now, knowing that the struggles of this life will not have their way with me because the Lord accompanies me every day of this life. And I see the sure sign of Jesus’ strength over the struggles of life when Jesus battled every one of them on the cross and walked over every one of them when he walked out of the Easter tomb.
I went to Africa for a month a little over a decade ago to visit Lutheran churches in Cameroon, sister churches of Lutheran Churches in South Dakota. Although it is true, there are many of life’s struggles that we in developed countries can pin down, at least for a while, the people of Cameroon helped me see that many of life’s struggles are simply more powerful than my human hands and mind can tackle, and in the end will pin me down. But that’s where the power of prayer comes in, the power that comes from being enfolded in the mighty and loving hands of God, hands that were nailed to the cross and hands that rolled away the Easter boulder.
So, I pray, “God give me, and those who are reading along with me, the strength, your strength to make it through whatever this day might bring. AMEN”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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