Pandemic Prayers & the Nature of God

[Mark G. Karris gave his permission for his FaceBook post to be copied and posted. I will post my reaction to his article in the next few days.]

Over a year has gone by and millions of prayers have gone up to the hazy sky to beg an all-powerful and controlling God to snap His fingers to make this pandemic go away. Am I really to believe that God has the power to instantly eradicate the microscopic virus, but has chosen not to? Am I to believe that God could have saved the 2.24 million people who died from it in the past year, but said, “I could have, but I simply chose not to. However, I will speak a word or snap my finger and instantly give this person a parking space, this person the job they always wanted, and this person healing for their back pain.” Don’t you feel the cognitive dissonance?

I have seen many prayer requests, such as "So and so died from Covid. Please pray for their family."

Hold on a second. There were over a hundred people praying for that precious person to live and God had the power to instantly heal them but chose not to, and they died. And now, you want me to beg God for their family for comfort, or finances, or whatever else we should pray for, and expect God to give it to them? So, I am supposed to trust that God, who devastated us by simply watching the slow death unfold and allowed our friend or family member to die, would open up His stingy hands and unfold His arms to miraculously provide comfort or finances to their family members? Is that what God does anyway? Is God really standing idly by as a person is grieving the loss of their loved one and doesn’t comfort them until someone else miles away begs God to do so? Or, better yet, God would only do so if 49 people prayed for God to comfort them? And, if 48 people on the prayer chain prayed, then tough luck? Don’t you feel the dissonance?

Our prayers to this kind of fickle God must be reminiscent of how our fear-ridden ancient ancestors prayed as they anxiously begged the Gods for rain or sunshine for their crops. Some things really do not change much.

I don’t want to just engage in another deconstruction post. So, let me offer you an alternative view of God. Certainly, God is a God of the dead and the living; of deconstruction and reconstruction.

Perhaps God is Love. And, love doesn’t force its way into our lives. Perhaps, God can’t singlehandedly control the outcome like a Puppeteer because that would be what a controlling authoritarian deity would do? I mean, is God NOT being able to do certain things out of the question? It seems that even from a biblical perspective, God can’t do a lot of things. God can’t lie. God can’t sin. God can’t cease to exist. God can’t tempt others. God can’t be prejudiced. Etc. Therefore, is it also possible that God whose nature is LOVE cannot singlehandedly and forcefully intervene in human and creaturely events but CAN only do so through cooperation? Perhaps God can’t stop evil or Covid like a divine Whack-A-Mole because we are freer, and all the elements in existence are freer, than we ever imagined. I agree, that thought can conjure up existential dread and is a scary thought. However, just because it is anxiety-provoking doesn’t make it any less true.

I don’t have all the answers. I am trying to figure it out like everyone else. But, this whole idea of God having the power to stop evil and senseless death but chooses not to, at least a whole lot of time, but chooses to do so some of the time, is just untenable for me. This idea of begging what appears to be a fickle, moody, tribal God is just unfathomable. If I had the cure to my son’s illness you can rest assure he wouldn’t have to repeatedly beg me or have ten of his friends beg me to give it to him. What kind of narcissistic monster would that make me?

I have said before, at the end of this pandemic, we will not have experienced a magic act, where God poofs Covid out of existence. There will have been countless doctors, nurses, and other health care workers who heeded the call to love and who sacrificially gave their lives for the sake of others. There will have been thousands of hours of research, testing, and the manufacturing of mitigating products by those who are using their God-given faculties and who cooperate with a God who values human flourishing. There will have been people like you and me—those who cooperated with Love and made sure we were keeping ourselves, our loved ones, and our neighbours healthy, safe, and well-resourced.

So, by all means, let us pray. Let us share our lament, anguish, and heartfelt desires before God. Contrary to popular opinion, I am not suggesting we don’t talk with God. I am for prayer and intimacy with God. I am just suggesting that perhaps God can’t control us like puppets and control viruses like microscopic robots. Perhaps God is more loving than we imagined? Perhaps God’s arms are not folded, and they are perpetually unfolded, in each moment, loving to the extent that God is able given the sheer freedom of creaturely existence? Perhaps God wants the eradication of the virus more than we do? Perhaps God is comforting and healing to the extent that God can—before we even pray. Perhaps we should talk with God, listen to God’s heartbeat, AND be the hands and feet of God on the earth, doing our part to make this beautiful chaos a little bit more livable for each other.

––Mark G. Karris (reprint with permission)

Addendum: Mark Karris Video