4th Sunday after Epiphany 30.1.11 God never sleeps
Our Lord was asleep in the boat. Many people would say He still is asleep, as they express frustration that He does not seem to hear their prayers!
It is impossible that He would sleep, forget, lose interest etc.
There must be some other explanation, but it can never be that He has forgotten us.
It might look like He is doing nothing but it cannot be nothing. It must be ‘something’ and that something is going to bring about the best possible result.
Results of prayers are complex things. There is more than one person involved and different people want different things. If God wants to bless one person with a certain result it may be other people have to be disappointed.
For example, the death of a loved one. People cannot always be healed. There is a time to die. If the person dying goes to heaven it is better for him/her. But there is a cost for those left behind. They suffer grief. Good results can have painful side effects.
God works for the best result in the overall situation. So I cannot have everything I want from my own self-interest, but I will get the best result for the whole situation (in which I will benefit) if I pray sincerely.
He never sleeps, so we must override any personal disappointment or frustration which might tempt us to abandon prayer. We pray on, through all weathers, trusting that our prayer will make the world a better place than it would have been if we had not prayed.
We do not usually know what the precise result of our prayer will be but it must always be in the direction of improvement, provided we pray with trust
Taking all in all we see that the work of God is heading towards a good result. Sometimes it might take centuries or millennia to achieve. And the people who live during these years might say: I don't see the finish; I don't believe there even is a clear finish.
The problem is that we are (in general) so far away from Him. Thus the prayers which are made are from too great a distance, and too thin.
God never sleeps but He will often be silent. His silence will mean it is up to us to make the next move – which will usually require some kind of repentance and realignment with Him.
Often there will be no answer to prayer unless the one praying makes a serious repentance.
We cannot just waltz in at any time and say, Fix it, please. There has to be a correct well-ordered relationship with God. He is not at our beck and call. We can ask only for things which are His will and which are in accordance with the way He normally operates.
Thus we cannot ask for frivolous miracles. But we can always ask where there is need and where human resources have been exhausted.
There must have been an element of panic when the disciples woke Our Lord. He rebuked them for that - not for asking Him, but the way they asked.
The way we approach Almighty God is more important to Him than the actual thing prayed for. He wants us to desire Him more than whatever that thing is.
So if our prayer for whatever intention brings us closer to God that prayer has ‘worked’ no matter what other circumstances may result.
May our prayer, from which we never weary, be acceptable in His sight.
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