2-12-2025
Show Me Prayer
One of the things that you may have heard me say multiple times is this, “Nothing is random with God.” Everything God does has a purpose for us. Romans 8:28 tells us that God can take anything and everything and work it all together for good. We’re not told that everything is good because it isn’t. But God can take even the not-so-good stuff and, ultimately, turn it into something good. I don’t claim to understand how He does that, but He does.
Every one of us has prayed for something that didn’t happen, only to look back a few weeks/months/years later and say, “Wow! I’m glad God didn’t answer that prayer.” Other times, it’s not so much a prayer that wasn’t answered, but a prayer that changed. In other words, sometimes we simply need to change the way we pray. Case in point:
On February 3, 1966 Navy Captain Gerald Coffee was flying a reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam when he was shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire. He was soon captured and placed in a military prison in downtown Hanoi, where he would spend the next 7 years of his life. He endured frequent beatings, solitary confinement and excruciating torture using ropes. He was housed in a tiny filthy cell, so tiny that he could neither fully stand up or fully lie down.
How did endure such inhumane treatment for such an extended time?
In a 2014 interview with PBS, he said…
“Early on my prayers changed from ‘Why me’ to ‘Show me.’ I quit saying, ‘Why me, God?’ and I started saying: ‘Show me, God… How can I use this positively? Help me to use it to go home as a better, stronger, smarter man in every possible way that I can, to go home as a better naval officer, to go home as a better American, a better citizen, a better Christian. ‘God, help me to use this time productively so that it won’t be some kind of a void or a vacuum in my life.’”
Then he said this…
“And after that change in my prayers, every single day took on a new meaning.”
I’m sure it did! There’s no question that our trials pale in comparison to Captain Coffee’s. And yet, “Why Me?” remains a mantra for many. Why Me? tends to lead to a greater sense of despair. “Show Me”, on the other hand, moves us in a new direction, where we experience God’s presence and God’s power like never before. The Apostle Paul said this:
….we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:3-5, NIV)
Again, nothing is random with God. I have no idea what you may be facing today, how great or how challenging or how impossible it might be. What I do know is that God is aware, which means, you should talk to Him about it. You can pray the, “Why me?” prayer – but you will probably find the, “Show me” prayer to be a bit more helpful. And remember, He can use everything for our good if we will trust Him in the process.