Within hours of Hurricane Irma passing our home in Central Florida, one of my wife's co-workers texted her an article written by Dan Barker regarding prayer in the light of the recent storms in Texas and Florida. The gist of the article was this: The fact that hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit Texas and Florida despite the multiple prayers services that were held proves that prayer is powerless and is a waste of time. The issue of evil and disaster existing in a world that is under the care of a loving God is very complex and often difficult to understand or explain. Many scholars have wrestled with this topic and no one answer can be given as the reasons for sufferings vary depending on the cause of the suffering and who is suffering. Even so, it can be pointed out that the conclusion reached in Barker's prayer article is flawed in at least three points.

1. The Purpose of Prayer is Misunderstood

Barker swaps the roles of Man and God, with Man being the one who issues commands and God the one who is obligated to obey. Nowhere does Scripture affirm this relationship or purpose of prayer (to control God's activities). Instead, prayer is a means by which we engage in conversation with God. Sometimes these conversations contain requests for God to consider fulfilling our desires. While God does answer, His answer isn't always what we hope for. A better comparison is that of a child and parent. A son can ask his father to stay home, not go on a business trip, and come see the son's little league game instead. While it would bring the father joy to fulfill the request, he might still tell his son, "No." The son will feel let down, but the father knows it is in the son's best interest. For starters, his job brings in money that will provide good things for his son long after the little league game and business trip are over. More importantly, however, a successful trip means a promotion to a position with a more flexible schedule that would allow the father time to attend more of his son's ball games in the future.

2. The Penalty of Sin is Underestimated

Going back to roles of God and Man, the proper relationship is that God gives commands and Man is expected to obey. Unfortunately, Man regularly chooses himself over God. (Yes, this applies to Christians, as well.) While many people wish to wipe God from existence when he doesn't do what they want, God actually has the ability to wipe Man from existence when Man doesn't do what He wants. But God doesn't. He is slow to anger and ready to forgive (Neh. 9:17). The fact that these storms didn't destroy everything and everyone is more a testimony to God's patience and kindness.

3. The Lack of Proof That Prayer Wasn't Effective

For Barker, the article's author, to make his claim with authority, he needs to present proof that the damage and loss of life from Harvey and Irma would have been exactly the same regardless of whether or not anyone had prayed. For example, at the time I am writing this post (mid-day on Thursday, Sept. 14) there have been less than 30 storm related deaths reported in Florida (less than 100 across the storm path). Even if this number quadruples over the next several days, for a storm that was at one time one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, that would still be an amazingly low number. Without prayer, would the death toll in the state have been one, two, three hundred or more? To truly make his case, Baker would have to show that these numbers would have been unchanged regardless of the presence of prayer. He can't, for obvious reasons, but until he can his article is just an opinion based on limited knowledge. If the article's writer still wants to hold fast to the belief that damage from hurricanes Harvey and Irma is proof that prayer doesn't work, I'm willing to accept that logic because a case can also be made, using the same logic, that prayer does indeed work. Prior to Irma, at the suggestion of our local church, my household held a worship service. As part of this service, we prayed that God would protect our house from damage due to wind, flood and falling tree limbs, all real concerns for my neighborhood. When the storm was over I had no damage for those reasons, or any other, for that matter. Now, I am not naive enough to claim that this is "indisputable proof" that prayer works, but I can guarantee that there is nothing about my experience that gives Barker any reason to claim that my prayers weren't answered and were instead futile. Finally, Barker stated that what Texas and Florida really needed was a help that was practical and material, not spiritual. He bragged about his organization's $10,000 donation to help Harvey victims and future donations to help Irma victims. While Christians certainly appeal to spiritual assistance, in no way do they neglect the material. According to some estimates, faith-based organizations provided over half of the relief assistance for Harvey, Irma and other disasters around the world. Their services, as well as financial donations, equated to billions of dollars of provided assistance. (Source: USA Today)

(Mat. 5:16, Heb. 13:16, Gal. 6:9)

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In 2001 I published a monthly Christian newsletter. Following 9/11 I wrote a very similar article to this one. If you are interested, you can read it here. Additionally, Key Life posted an excellent devotional by Steve Brown, “God Is Not A Monster,” that further explores the issue of God and suffering.