Prayer is Not Opposed to Action…
02.16.25
(Chapter 24 of What If Jesus Was Serious About Prayer- Skye Jethani)
There is an old joke about a religious man trapped in his house during a flood who prayed for God to deliver him. A neighbor came to his door offering to drive him away in his truck. “No thank you” the man said, “I trust God will save me.”
Sometime later the water had reached the second floor of the house. A police boat came to the man’s window to rescue him. No thanks” he said, “I believe God will save me.” Eventually the man was standing on the roof when a Coast Guard helicopter appeared overhead. The man denied their help too and finally drowned in the flood.
In heaven, the man confronted the Lord. “Why didn’t you save me?” he asked. God replied, “I sent a truck, a boat, and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”
The silly story illustrates a common error. Too often we separate God’s actions from our own. We assume God’s intervention requires our passivity, and we think taking action ourselves reveals a lack of faith in God’s providence. In acts 25, Paul doesn’t make these artificial distinctions.
Earlier in Acts, Jesus had appeared to Paul in a vision. Assuring him that he would live to proclaim His gospel in Rome. It was a word of encouragement given to Paul while in dire circumstances, but after receiving this promise from the Lord nothing seemed to happen. Two years passed as Paul languished away in jail in Caesarea, nowhere near Rome. Finally, when a new governor was appointed, Paul’s case came up for review. While standing before the governor, Paul saw his opportunity to get himself to Rome. “I appeal to Caesar” he said. The governor replied, “to Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”
Was Paul displaying a lack of faith by getting himself to Rome in this way? Should he have remained silent and waited until God somehow got him there instead? Of course not. Paul fully believed the Lord’s promise that he would preach in Rome, but that didn’t stop Paul from recognizing, and exploiting, opportunities to get there as they presented themselves. Rather than passively waiting for God, Paul was actively looking for how God might fulfill His promise and then cooperate with Him toward that goal.
Prayer is not opposed to action. In fact, when we act in cooperation with God our actions become a form of prayer that is pleasing to Him.