There’s a catchy song on the radio by The Script called “Breakeven.” It’s a song about heartbreak and it contains the lyric “I’m still alive but I’m barely breathing. Just praying to a God that I don’t believe in.” While recently listening to the song I wondered if it was ok to pray to a God that you don’t believe in?
I immediately thought about one of my students. I first met him because he emailed me asking if we could meet. Come to find out he’d never been to my church. He was searching on the Internet and it led him to my email on our church’s website. I’ll never forget our conversation. He said something along the lines of I don’t believe in God, but I feel like God is drawing me to Him. At the time he was an atheist. God wasn’t logical enough for him. He was looking for answers but didn’t want to turn to God because he didn’t believe He existed. I didn’t know what to say to him, so I told him that the Bible says that if you seek after God He can be found. I said if God is true and He can be found maybe He is trying to get his attention. I told him that even though this doesn’t make sense maybe he should ask God to show him if he’s real. If God is not real then at least you tried. I then invited him to my Student Community Group. I answered some final questions for him and that was it.
The next week he came to my group. He was quiet. Nothing amazing happened but for some reason he came back the following week. I think he was searching for a God that he didn’t believe in. After a couple of weeks at group I invited him to attend a service at Waters Edge. That next week he showed up to church. That next week God spoke to him. That next week he started believing in God. I’ll never forget seeing Him ask God into his life. After seeing that I might would say that it’s ok to pray to a God that you don’t believe in. What do you think?
Perhaps this is how it started for all of us? Good story. Must have been special to watch the transformation.
I think in this case, God had already regenerated this kid's heart and was drawing him…intellectually he was fully a skeptic, but the Spirit had already awakened the "eternity set in his heart"…Jesus was inviting him to investigate him just like he did for Thomas…for other people, praying to a god they don't believe in is dangerous ground…many people will say they are "spiritual" (and spirituality is not synonymous with Jesus) and pray to whoever or whatever (very Oprahesk)…but it's like sending a letter with no address and expecting it first to get there and second to get a response…their prayers are bouncing off the ceiling or demons are having a heyday with them…the difference in the two types of people is whether the Spirit is involved
i think it is a step along the journey of realising we need something beyond ourselves…thanks for the story love to hear how God is moving…
Hope precedes action and action leads to faith. "Ask and it shall be given; seek, and you will find; Knock and the door will open. I think people sometimes feel safer, saying they don't believe–less risk of disappointment, but the act of prayer is a huge expression of hope, if not an element of belief.
Billy, you bring up some good points. I think you are right in saying that God was at work in this Students heart. I'm not about having someone pray to any God, but I do believe in the Bible when it says if someone seeks after God He will be found in them. This student was seeking spirituality he was seeking the truth. Thanks for your comment. Good stuff.
That song lyric always got my attention and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Thank you for shedding a new light on it! Inspiring story, I always enjoy your writing.
Thanks Kelly D. I appreciate that you read.
It's always ok. It's usually at a point of complete brokeness that one who doesn't believe in God calls out to him. It's when we're broken that we so desperately want there to be more than the here and now… Whether we believe in it or not.
I think when we're broken it's when God is the most easily found. He's always there, I just think we become more aware… and he's always reaching out to the broken. It's the theme of everything we believe.