Many Pray but Few Listen
Many Pray – Few Listen. Nowhere is this more true than with health. I have noticed over the years that one of the things that people pray for the most is health. In many Sunday church services, there is a time where the congregation prays for the health of people in their church, community or family. One of the most heart wrenching prayers has to be one where someone is praying to God for help with a health problem they themselves are suffering with.
I can recall years ago a young couple that came to me in search of an answer for a very painful spinal problem the young man was experiencing. They mentioned that they felt God had sent them in to see me. The young man was scheduled to have surgery in four days, and he had come to me as a last resort. Since he had never been to a chiropractor before, he was skeptical, as are many people new to chiropractic.
After performing an examination and x-rays I determined that although he was in a lot of pain, the underlying cause of his problems was actually a relatively common problem that we see in my office and that correction would not be overly difficult. I explained to him and his young wife that I felt fairly confident of a positive outcome, as I had seen this type of problem many times before. I then asked him if he wanted to start care immediately.
I was a little disappointed when he did not want to start care but said that he would need to pray on this further. After all, he did say he felt God had sent him to me, so in my mind what else was there to wait for? I then expected the young couple to go home and pray on the situation. To my surprise, they grabbed my hands and started praying with me right there. Since I’m always up for a good prayer, I was happy to join in.
In their prayer, they asked for God's guidance on where they should go. I thought to myself that God had already given them that answer. Then they asked for an solution for the young man’s problem. Again, my thoughts were that this prayer had just been answered for them. Then they asked for God to create a healing in him for this problem. Now since I believe only God heals, this prayer has been answered since the moment the young man came into this world.
After they finished their prayer, they then left without receiving any care. I felt that maybe my explanation was inadequate, or I had failed them in some way, as I was sure that the young man could be helped and could be spared the ordeal of spinal surgery. Fortunately, the next day they returned, he started care, and within two days he was feeling good enough to cancel the surgery. He went on to have a full recovery. Additionally, his wife also started care. She was unable to conceive after trying for several years. Within a few months of chiropractic care, she became pregnant.
I mention this story to make a point about how many people pray. It has been my experience that many people pray, but only want to hear the answer they expect. I’ve heard prayers by people asking for a drug to help them, when in my opinion; God has given us a body that produces all the internal chemicals we need. Additionally, many people are not open to help that God places before them because it may be outside their preconceived ideas on healthcare. God often offers help in directions that some are not open to look into.
Years ago, I heard a short story of a small hungry boy growing up during the great depression who would often go without food and would turn to God in prayer. The story reports that the boy said, "When I pray to God to give me a chicken, I almost always go hungry. But When I pray to God to give me the strength to catch me a chicken, I almost always eat."
Our Heavenly Father did not put us on earth and leave us insufficient to be healthy. He gave us everything we need to be healthy our entire lives. Our bodies were created in his image and therefore with all the magnificent abilities to keep us healthy. The more anyone studies the human body and its function, the more in amazement we are. We realize how great this creation is. Yet we should also realize how little we really know about it.
I have seen people pray for their blood pressure or diabetes, while totally neglecting their weight or diet. I have seen people pray for relief from pain, while leading a sedentary life and not wanting to be active at all. I have seen people pray for many thing related to health, while leading lifestyles that created the health problems they are experiencing.
God gave us the “good fruits” of the earth. He gave us clean air for our lungs. He gave us clean blood streams and organs to filter out impurities. He gave us the ability to move and be active. Maybe the answer to many of our health problems isn’t that we are lacking in some pill, some surgery, or some new technology. Maybe the answer to our prayers is, and always has been available for us all along. Maybe we are just not listening.