Superstition vs Prayer

 Superstition is believing that the outcome of a certain event is influenced by faith in one's action. What is prayer then? Prayer is communicating with God. It is having faith that God, rather than one's action will influence a certain event in a way that fulfills His will. It is asking God to do what's best. Prayer is when we humble ourselves and ask God to do His will rather than our own.

  I'm much better than I was, but I have a real fear of driving. I am quite comfortable driving to familiar places, but I'm usually too afraid to venture out of my comfort zone. When I was first married, I didn't drive at all.  It was a paralyzing, talk-show worthy kind of fear.  I got in the habit of praying for safety every time I got into the car to drive. I became convinced that if I didn't pray I was sure to get into a car accident. Some of you reading this will probably see this as classic OCD, but I see it as trying to be in control. I took a good thing and turned it into a compulsive superstitious ritual. I think this is just another example of trying to earn God's love. If I pray, God will love me and keep me safe; if I forget, He turns His back on me and I'm on my own. I was not praying out of love for God and I was trusting my prayer instead of God. I was praying very selfishly. It became wrong on so many levels. That's what Satan likes to do. Very subtly take something good in our lives and turn it into something bad. There is nothing I can do or not do to make God love me any more or any less. Once I realized what I was doing I was able to let go of it and trust God. Is it even biblical to pray for safety? Maybe God doesn't want me to be safe. Maybe He wants me to break down on the side of the road or get into an accident. We do learn a lot more when things don't go as planned. Isaiah 45:7 "I form the light and create darkness, I make the well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord who does all these things." God doesn't create moral evil, but He creates calamity. A calamity defined by the Websters dictionary is "A state of deep distress or misery caused by major misfortune or loss. A disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering."  Sometimes it is God's will for us to go through calamity. Sometimes God wants bad things to happen to good people. Now I pray that I will pay attention and have good judgment and not be distracted. I pray for confidence and wisdom and the ability to think clearly if something does happen. It's more biblical to pray that God's will be done and that I will respond in a way that glorifies Him and that I learn what He wants me to learn.

"The value of consistent prayer is not that He will hear us, but that we will hear Him."-William McGill