A WISH AND A PRAYER
Arabian Nights: Aladdin; Or, The Wonderful Lamp - Now this was by Destiny of God the Great, that it might be the means of Aladdin's escape. For whilst he sat wailing and weeping over his case and cast away all hope of life, and utter misery overwhelmed him, he rubbed his hands together for excess of sorrow, as is the wont of the woeful. Then, raising them in supplication to Allah, he cried, "I testify that there is no God save Thou alone, the Most Great, the Omnipotent, the All-conquering, Quickener of the dead, Creator of man's need and Granter thereof, Resolver of his difficulties and duress and Bringer of joy, not of annoy. Thou art my sufficiency and Thou art the Truest of Trustees. And I bear my witness that Mohammed is Thy servant and Thine Apostle, and I supplicate Thee, O my God, by his favor with Thee to free me from this my foul plight."
And whilst implored the Lord and was chafing his hands in the soreness of his sorrow for that had befallen him of calamity, his fingers chanced to rub the ring, when, lo and behold! forthright its familiar rose upright before him and cried: "Adsum! Thy slave between thy hands is come! Ask whatso thou wantest, for that I am the thrall of him on whose hand is the ring, the signet of my lord and master."
So he rejoiced exceedingly and became brave and cried, "Ho, thou slave of the Lord of the Ring, I desire thee to set me upon the face of the earth." And hardly had he spoken this speech when suddenly the ground clave asunder and he found himself at the door of the hoard and outside it in full view of the world.
Allah! Isn’t it wonderful we serve God and not Allah? By the way, who is the Creator of man’s need? Didn’t Satan create the circumstance of man’s need after God had already met all of man’s need at creation? And, an All-conquering god leaves no room for freedom and our own choices. We have, of course, seen the disciples of Islam who embrace this All-conquering attribute of their Satan surrogate deity. Who is Aladdin really praying to?
Here we have a young man seeking escape through prayer. The god of his prayer does not grant his supplication directly, but makes available to him a magical slave to meet his every wish. Later Aladdin makes the acquaintance of the Jinn in the Lamp and discovers its ability to grant any wish. There is no limit to the granted wish and no test of wisdom for the one wishing. In this story of Aladdin and the Lamp there is no check and balance; no oversight or caution. Every wish of Aladdin is granted regardless of consequence to himself or others. It is no small wonder Muslim’s find no fault in the method or madness of obtaining their desires. Or to be true to the tale, use any means to achieve the destiny of Allah, god of Islam; an evil notion better known as, “The end justifies the means.” This tale in the “Arabian Nights” is just one of many that bear the truth of the twisted morality that can be embraced by Islam’s disciples. What kind of god grants absolute power to fallible men? We are fortunate to serve a God which does not grant wishes. How do we know this? God made it clear in His Word that He is not going to grant wishes. Though it may seem to us at times that God has granted a wish, He has instead answered a prayer. How then, do we distinguish a wish from a prayer?
A wish is that desire of ours which God can’t hear or grant. Job 31:30, Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. Job knew the difference between a wish and a prayer. When he spoke about evil men he claimed never to have sinned by even wishing a curse to the evil man’s soul. Job knew, for one, that we are already under a curse. He also knew a wish of such nature is born of sin and not charity. Any prayer we may attempt to lift up to God will not be heard if it bears any sinful intent. Such a prayer becomes only a wish that God can’t grant because He will not hear that prayer.
In the case of Paul, he never offered a prayer but only expressed an unattainable wish. Romans 9:3, For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Because of the covenant God had made and the promises to be kept, God could not grant Paul’s desire and so, Paul never made it a prayer. It became a wish of vanity to express great sorrow. God is not in the business of breaking covenants. He made a covenant with everyone; all souls, “…that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. In this and other scripture Paul relied. How can God go back on his word? God had already made the sacrifice that was needed and Paul’s wish would not add any value to it. Paul’s wish was only to demonstrate the depth of his love for the people of his birth. God does not grant wishes!
A prayer is that desire of ours which God hears and will or will not grant according to His will. Every prayer is a supplication for God’s intervention. Every prayer is weighed in God’s balance of justice and mercy. We have the example of prayer which was given by Jesus to the disciples. Aren’t we disciples as well? There is no room for wishes in such a prayer; not even a glimmer of possibility for a wish. Selfless desire brings us closer to learning the essential element which defines real prayer and that element is others. Yet, even in selfless desire Paul had found a boundary which could not be crossed. Real prayer can be accomplished when we focus on others and know God’s Word. Paul knew effective prayer and the boundaries which kept him from sinning in prayer. How many of us, in ignorance, take prayer down to the level of wishing through our sin? And, how many compound our sin by knowing better?
Who is this Allah, or any god, who entertains whimsical wishes?
Who is this God that only hears and answers prayer?
Does the difference matter?
