Having the Faith to Stop Praying

Fourteen year old Jerry was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy (MD). From day one of the diagnosis he started praying that God would heal him. This is understandable. MD is a terrible disease that will continue to weaken his muscles. As a young man this diagnosis is the death of many of his dreams. Life will never be “normal” for Jerry.

For over a year now, Jerry has been passionately and persistently praying that God would give him grace and heal him from this terrible disease. But over the past couple of months he has been given a bit more peace about this disease. As such he’s stopped praying for healing. He doesn’t know it for sure, but he is resigned to the fact that he’s going to get increasingly weak. Now he is praying that God can still use him even in his weakness.

But Jerry has stopped praying that God would heal him. Does this mean that he has lost faith? Has he wavered?

Maybe. But I don’t believe we must say that he has. There is a type of faith which is actually strong in that it stops praying. Also, it is never wavering in faith to fail to believe something that God has never explicitly promised. But there is another reason why Jerry may actually be displaying a strong faith.

The Example of Paul

Consider the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. He had pleaded three times with the Lord to remove this thorn in the flesh. But it appears that something happened in his heart where he stopped praying for the thorns removal and instead began to pray that God would be glorified in his weakness.

Reflecting on 2 Corinthians 12, Bruce Ware says this:

…Paul assessed the stubborn truthfulness of his ongoing affliction and came to see that God would not deliver him as he wanted so badly. At this point, Paul’s whole disposition toward that unwelcome trial changed. Previously, it was unwanted and hurtful only. Now, seeing the good hand of God in ordaining that he have it, it became something of a gift from God’s love and longing for him and for his best. He stopped praying, not out of disbelief but out of even greater faith. (Ware, God’s Greater Glory)

I am not trying to encourage people to stop praying. If you are humbly seeking the Lord then pray the desires of your heart. But don’t assume that the only type of mature faith in your prayer life is to be praying for God to do miraculous things like heal your diseases. There is also a maturity to a faith that no longer prayers for healing but instead prays with a settle disposition that God would get glory through your very real and painful weakness.