Learning to Pray in a Culture that Tells Us to Doubt Literally Everything

Western culture today celebrates authenticity. We want everything to be real, and we don't want to be tricked. In the United States in particular, we are becoming increasingly aware and disdainful of marketing tactics, and we have stopped trusting the news. Just this morning I heard my family's landline phone ringing, and my first thought was, "Why bother answering it? It's probably going to be a scam." And it was.

This celebration of authenticity combines well with our culture's love of naturalism, the belief that nothing exists beyond the natural world. These two beliefs have serious consequences, because they lead directly into a mindset of doubt. Is that person being authentic? Who are they really? And can I truly believe in something I have not seen or experienced? How can I hope for anything beyond this world, a world that seems to be increasingly in peril?

In general, it is not surprising that the United States has one of the highest rates of mental illness in the world. We are a culture that has lost hope.

This has particular implications for American Christians who, though they are not naturalists, are impacted by the spirit of the age, the prevalent doubtful mindset. Most Christians do not like to talk about doubt, but it needs to be brought into the light. Only then can its destructive consequences be addressed.

The Battle Between Prayer and Doubt

As we can observe in Scripture, there is a direct relationship between faith and the effectiveness of prayer. James 1 describes a person who doubts as he prays as "a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (v. 6-8).

I have often experienced this in my own life. For example, I spent five months praying that I would find a job. However, as I prayed I felt constantly attacked by waves of doubt. They came in many forms. Sometimes I thought something like, "God doesn't want to give me this. Why am I still praying for it?" Other times I doubted the effectiveness of prayer itself. Worse, I began to pray as a safety net, like, "Well, even if this doesn't work, it's still worth a shot."

I prayed in a double-minded way. Instead of meditating on God's infinite love for me and his power to provide a job for me at the right time, I ruminated on all the bad things that would happen if I didn't find a job. Then I felt guilty for thinking this way, and I would have trouble praying more, because I knew God could see everything that was in my heart.

Here was the outcome of praying this way: When God finally gave me the job, I felt robbed. I wasn't robbed of the physical outcome of my prayer, but I lost the joy of having trusted God while I waited on him to provide for me.

Our unbelief does not change God's ability to answer our prayers. It's almost worse than that—unbelief damages our trust in God, making it hard for us to hope in and cling to him as our Heavenly Father.

As Paul Miller writes in his book A Praying Life, "If Satan can't stop you from praying, he will try to rob you of the fruit of praying by dulling your soul. Satan cannot create, but he can corrupt" (64).

Hope, Waiting, and Prayer in the Bible

In Romans 15:13, God is described specifically as the God of hope: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."

What is hope? In modern English, we hope for a lot of things. If we're looking forward to going to the water park, we hope it won't rain. If we're shopping for formal clothing, we hope to find something comfortable and professional. If we're hoping to marry someone someday, we hope they will like us back. In other words, we use the word to describe a wish or desire that is not guaranteed to be fulfilled.

This is not the case in the Bible. Like the Spanish verb esperar, which means both "to hope" and "to wait," hope in the Bible always refers to something guaranteed, especially when we are called to hope in God. It ultimately means to expect something that has been promised by God to be fulfilled, and to be waiting for it eagerly.

One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 131. It's short, simple, and beautifully captures the posture of godly hope. It begins, "O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me" (v. 1). The believer here bows before the Lord and does not demand that God explain himself, that God give them more reason to believe and come to him in prayer than he has already given.

The psalmist then goes on to explain the state of his soul, writing, "But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me" (v. 2). Here the psalmist contrasts the relationship between a mother and an infant with the relationship between a mother and a young child. Infants are restless and loud, crying for milk when hungry, experiencing separation anxiety when their mother is out of view. When an infant has become a young child, they depend on their mother's presence for comfort, but that is all the child requires. The psalmist is explaining that his soul is like a child in the presence of his mother—God's presence is all that the believer requires in order to feel safe.

The psalm ends with this declaration: "O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore" (v. 3). Here this writer expands on the trustworthiness of God, proclaiming that all of God's people should trust him forever!

Hope rests fully on the promises of God. Hope is most comfortable in the presence of God. Hope is fed by Scripture and results in prayer that proactively combats unbelief through growing faith.

Where to Begin

You may now be asking yourself, "But how can I just start trusting? Doubt is not that simple." You are not alone in asking this. That is why the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Here is Jesus' response:

"Pray then like this:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:9-13).

Start by talking to God. Address him as your father, and ask for the desire to see his kingdom come and his will to come to pass. Ask him for what you need today, without holding anything back. Confess your sins to him (including your doubt), and forgive others of things that you have been holding against them. Ask for deliverance from the evil of doubt and your temptation toward it.

There is no formula for hope, but prayer is directly connected to it. As Paul Miller writes, "Hope begins with the heart of God. As you grasp what the Father's heart is like, how he loves to give, then prayer will begin to feel completely natural to you" (71).

Hope in Christ is the remedy for the world's epidemic of doubt and despair. No matter how weak you feel, trusting in God's promises and responding in prayer is the first step toward victory.

References:

Miller, Paul E. A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World. NavPress, 2017.

The Bible. The English Standard Version, Crossway, 2001.