Implications
By now you've probably heard about the tornadoes that killed four children at a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa. On the radio this morning they played an interview of one of the parents whose son survived the storm. During this interview, the father said something along the lines of "The whole time we were driving up there we were praying that our son wasn't one of the four who was dead." Apparently there were some significant delays between the time that the four nameless fatalities were announced and when parents were informed about the condition of their own respective children.
Now, I'm willing to cut this guy plenty of slack. I can't imagine sitting around for several hours wondering if my own son was dead. Good night. That being said, that quote has stuck with me today as I've wondered about the appropriateness of such a prayer. Knowing that there were indeed four fatalities, this man was basically praying that four other sets of parents would have to bear this grief, and that he would prefer this to himself having to suffer the loss of a child. I'm not saying that's an unreasonable preference, but is that something that he should have prayed? Would there have been something more appropriate for them to be praying? I'm not really sure.
If you've got an opinion on this, please leave a comment.
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I think the question goes deeper to what is the purpose of prayer or was this even a prayer? Does one believe that by making this request of God, after the fact, will make Him change His mind and raise someone from the dead that He had previously ordained to die. Of course not. If one could think straight at an emotional time as this (which I am not sure anyone could) a more realistic prayer acknowledging that God's will is soverign and asking for strength to deal with what has happened, wisdom and strength to comfort those that He has brought together to deal with this tragedy would have been appropriate. I do not think it is wrong, and is certainly normal for this father to express the feelings he did. In some respects it isn't any different than a farmer praying for rain at the same time as a boy is praying for sunshine so they can go to the pool. Often times what is good for one person is the direct oposite of what is good for someone else, that is life and God will ultimately decide what is best for all involved and how it fits into His plan, our prayers simply acknowledge that He is in charge.
I think this is the exact quote I heard this morning (from here):
"His father, Joel White, jumped in his truck at home in Blair, Neb., to find his son. 'We're just hoping and praying it wasn't him,' he told FOX News. 'We didn't want it to be anybody. We just didn't know.'"
Like I said, I don't count it against the guy. I'd probably say something similar. The question in there for me was more related to the nature of prayer and how we should pray.
There are all kinds of prayers in the Psalms that are of the "God, please kill my enemy…" variety. So, maybe praying "God, please let some other guy's kid be dead" is a legitimate prayer (not that this guy was thinking that when he prayed). You're right, too, that the after the fact issue is in play here. Praising God's sovereignty and perfectly good will, and asking for strength etc. is probably the way to go here, if you can collect yourself enough that is.