{"id":6980,"date":"2019-10-10T13:21:15","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T21:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/?p=6980"},"modified":"2019-10-10T13:24:29","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T21:24:29","slug":"how-to-pray-ch-15-something-hard-to-understand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/how-to-pray-ch-15-something-hard-to-understand\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Pray, Ch. 15: Something Hard to Understand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The Resurrection of Lazarus by Gustave Dore.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

C. S Lewis was an intellectual.  Therefore, when he came to the Christian\nfaith, he approached Christian belief intellectually.  It is no surprise that he ran into\nproblems!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Letter 11 of Letters to Malcolm<\/em> \u2013 which is the substance of chapter 15 of How To Pray<\/em> \u2013 Lewis tries to deal with a problem concerning the Bible\u2019s teaching about prayer that troubled him for many years.  The problem is simply this: We are given an example of prayer in the Garden of  Gethsemane, where Jesus makes his petition known to His Father, but he does so with a reservation: \u201cnot my will, but thine be done.\u201d  In this case, the supplicant knows what he desires, but is not certain of what God\u2019s will is in the matter.  However, in St. Mark 11:24, we read, \u201cTherefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.\u201d  In this case, there is a one-to-one relationship between what is asked and what is received.  There is no question as to any divine options involved.  One’s faith need have no reservations.  How does one reconcile these two views of the nature of prayer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years before writing Letters to Malcolm<\/em>, on the 8th<\/sup> of December, 1953, Lewis addressed a group of clergy about Mark 11:24, and in the end he asks them for help.  He in effect says, \u201cYou are the theologians.  I need help here.  How does it work?\u201d  You can read his address in the book Christian Reflections<\/em>, in the chapter entitled \u201cPetionary Prayer: A Problem Without an Answer.\u201d  He does not seem to have received an answer from his audience.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Lewis did not give up trying to find an answer.  It is amusing to read his comment about how a\nmore \u201cliberal\u201d theologian may have handled the subject.  A modern theologian may have simply dismissed\nthe problem by ignoring any inconvenient statement in the Bible, saying that\nthey did not know what they were talking about. \nLewis contradicts this approach by saying that detectives in crime novels\ncan sometimes be better thinkers than the theologians.  He then proceeds to almost quote verbatim\nSherlock Holmes from \u201cThe Beryl Coronet\u201d: \u201cIt is an old maxim of mine that when\nyou have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be\nthe truth.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With such dogged determination, Lewis worked on this problem over the years.  Here he – tentatively – gives his best answer.  Perhaps this kind of confident faith in asking, which stands on such a bold promise as we find in St. Mark, is a gift God gives to his friends in a time of need. When there’s an important event going on and his servant has to have this level of an assurance, he grants it to them.  Otherwise, he would pray in what could be thought a more normal fashion: \u201cnot my will but thine be done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we can find a case for this in the life of Christ\nhimself.  Lewis has already raised the\nexample of Jesus in the garden, praying a more \u201cordinary\u201d prayer – though under\nextremely unordinary circumstances!  Yet,\nin John 11, before Lazarus\u2019s tomb, we find him praying with a much greater\nassurance and certainty.  We read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the\ndead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee\nthat thou hast heard me.  42 And I knew\nthat thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said\nit, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.  43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with\na loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here Jesus is in a very public position.  Everyone is watching to see what he will\ndo.  He has to be able to know that, when\nhe calls Lazarus, he will come forth.  Apparently,\nbefore reaching Bethany, Jesus had already been praying and asking his Father\nfor this to happen.  He says in v. 41 \u201cI\nknow you have heard me.\u201d  See the\nassurance here.  Jesus knows what God\u2019s\nwill is in this situation.  He needed to\nknow this because his reputation is going to be on the line.  He had to be certain that Lazarus would rise\nbefore he calls him to do so.  Therefore,\nGod provided him with the certainty of his faith, which he so required.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis says more on the issue, but this is a sample of how he tried\nto deal with the problem.  He thought there\nmust be levels of faith and prayer.  This\ndifferentiation is helpful to understand, because some of us are told we are\nsupposed to always maintain a faith that is full of certainty, or there is\nsomething wrong with us   It\u2019s as if they\nthink Mark 11:24 is all the Bible says about prayer.  Not so. \nJust look at the prayer life of our Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n

Reference: C. S. Lewis, How To Pray: Reflections and Essays,<\/em> (New York, HarperOne, 2018), ISBN-13: 978-0062847133.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013
\nPlease note that the content and viewpoints of Rev. Beckmann are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

\"\"The Rev. David Beckmann has for many years been involved in both the Church and education. He helped to start a Christian school in South Carolina, tutored homeschoolers, and has been adjunct faculty for both Covenant College and the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. He founded the C.S. Lewis Society of Chattanooga in 2005. He has spoken extensively on C.S Lewis, and was the Director of the C.S Lewis Study Centre at The Kilns from 2014-2015. He is currently a Regional Representative for the C.S. Lewis Foundation in Chattanooga.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

C. S Lewis was an intellectual.  Therefore, when he came to the Christian faith, he approached Christian belief intellectually.  It is no surprise that he ran into problems!  In Letter 11 of Letters to Malcolm \u2013 which is the substance of chapter 15 of How To Pray \u2013 Lewis tries to deal with a problem […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional"],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Pray, Ch. 15: Something Hard to Understand - Living the Legacy of C.S. 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S Lewis was an intellectual.  Therefore, when he came to the Christian faith, he approached Christian belief intellectually.  It is no surprise that he ran into problems!  In Letter 11 of Letters to Malcolm \u2013 which is the substance of chapter 15 of How To Pray \u2013 Lewis tries to deal with a problem […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/how-to-pray-ch-15-something-hard-to-understand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Living the Legacy of C.S. 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