Paul’s words should challenge us to pray for the Church in Syria and for one another. What would happen with the cause of Christ if more of us took seriously Paul’s admonition to pray (2 Cor 1:11).
Doubtless, many persecuted Christians in Syria and around the world are so persecuted that they are despairing of life itself.
The Apostle Paul could relate. In 2 Cor 1, Paul bares his heart by sharing that in Asia he and his coworkers thought they had reached the end:
For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. (2 Cor 1:8-9).
Still, Paul knew there was a purpose for his suffering.
But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. (2 Cor 1:9-10).
If Paul knew that his only hope was through Christ, he also understood that God works through the instrumentality of prayer. God’s faithfulness in seeing his people through difficulties is in and through God’s people praying. So Paul adds:
You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:11.
Surely, if Syrian Christians had our email addresses, and they didn’t think that we would mark them as spam, they would echo the Apostle Paul’s words to us today, “You must help us by prayer . . .”
R.C. Sproul Jr., who lost both his wife and daughter last year, commented recently that he wondered if the ebb and flow of his family’s well being was in some way tied to the ebb and flow of the prayers of God’s people for them.
I think I would say yes.
A consistent Calvinist would say our prayers are not a factor in the overall providence of God. Right?
No, Norman, not at all. A consistent Calvinist would say that prayers are a beautiful part of God’s providence.