In Times of Crisis, Is Prayer Enough?

The operation to rescue the 13 trapped members of a Thai soccer (football) team has captured the hearts of the world. Tragedies happen every week across the globe, and they scarcely register in the world's newspapers. The hope of saving these 12 kids and their coach feels different from the often faceless accidents where the victims and the drama are already in the past. In this instance, salvation remains possible.

I've written in the past about the seeming emptiness of offering up "thoughts & prayers" when tragedies happen. If you're truly praying for the victims' families, then fine. But if you're just posting words to look empathetic, then your words do a disservice to faith. In such an instance, your offer of "thoughts & prayers" is an egotistical way of telling the world, "Don't forget about me! I want you to notice me!" Your empty words are dangerous and hurtful.

Offering up "promises of prayer" carries additional risk. If used to avoid action, your empty words condemn you. The early Christian writer James wrote, "If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." Failing to help is a failure of faith. Prayer cannot therefore be an excuse for inaction.

In the case of situations like the Thailand cave rescue, however, only a limited number of specialists can actually be of help. Others could literally get in the way and hamper the hard work done to free this football team. I've been amazed at the level of expertise needed on site: geologists, spelunkers, engineers, the royal cooks, reporters and bureaucrats have all played important roles. Even bird-watchers were asked to look for vents in the mountaintop that might lead down into the network of caves. The stars of the show have of course been the navy seals. I've heard reports of Thai, British, American and Australian divers. The one death so far was a retired Thai navy seal who had volunteered to help. He became unconscious and drowned.

Long story short, there is next to nothing that an untrained volunteer like myself could even do. At least not physically. And not on site.

Despite this, we are not helpless. We can pray. We can pray for safety. We can pray for good weather. We can pray that the kids and their coach will return home to their families. We can pray that no more rescuers be lost. You may wonder about the efficacy of such prayers. But for people of faith, these prayers aren't just empty words.

One troll on my twitter feed exclaimed that prayer is ineffective. Another said it was worthless for me to "sit on my %#@ in California while the real workers" were getting it done. Clever. But misguided.

Prayer is not useless. Early Christian writer Origen (early 200s) tried to explain why Christians did not take up the sword alongside Roman fighters. He said that the prayers and disciplined lives of Christians were more helpful to the king than the service of soldiers (my paraphrase). No matter what you think of his sentiment today, remember that this kind of thinking won over the empire. A peaceful commitment to prayer and hard work, while eschewing bloodshed, was a powerful witness to the world.

The prayerful way of Christians makes a huge difference. The obvious caveat is that Christians must sincerely pray and not just claim to pray. They cannot speak nice words just to look good. If Christians were to truly pray about things that matter while simultaneously stepping up to make a difference when called upon, this world would be an amazing place. And in many regards, it already is thanks to the tireless and selfless work of godly people everywhere.

In times of crisis, sometimes prayer is more than enough. Be thankful that so many Christians are praying right now. Will the cave rescue work? I don't know, but I am certain that prayer somehow makes a difference.