Prayer is both an elementary concept (just talk to God) yet also a complex and even mysterious pursuit. Accordingly, every spiritual beginner is fit to pray; as Jesus said, simply “Ask, seek, knock” (Matthew 7:7). But it’s also true that no spiritual veteran can claim to have mastered prayer; the further we ascend into the heights, the more we see the immensity of the Peak still ahead. 

Does prayer make a difference?  Yes—but not always in the way we expect.  Does God answer prayer? Yes—but his answers may startle us and end up generating even more questions.

Recently our sermon series took us to 2 Corinthians 1:3-11, a passage revealing that a purpose of God for our suffering is to equip us to be ready to comfort others in the midst of their trials (1:3-4).  In light of this, followers of Jesus should not expect that the Father will always insulate them from grief and loss.  We need a prayer vocabulary that goes beyond, “God, remove the pain.”  

And yet, we must not take God’s good designs for our afflictions as a reason to think prayer won’t help languishing Christians.   In fact, Paul states that prayer does help:  “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many” (1:11). 

Notice how prayer helps—the outcome sought in calling on God:  that many people would thank the Lord for his “blessing”!  And, again, in this context, God’s “blessing” must not be understood as the removal of trouble and the provision of ease:  the whole drift of 1:3-11 is to emphasize God’s comfort for us IN our trials.

This is exactly what surfaces later in the letter:   Paul suffers from a “thorn in the flesh” (i.e., some painful condition), and he pleads with God to take it away (12:7-10).  But the Lord answers by saying, “No.”  In fact, God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (12:9).  To which Paul replies:  he’s content with weakness (12:10) as long as Christ is magnified.