Thoughts and Prayers

And he said, “Please ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.” 1 Kings 2:17

The phrase Thoughts and Prayers has once again come under some scrutiny recently. Whenever there’s some terrible national tragedy, there are those who feel powerless to help, but who want to express their concern and so, often through social media, will express Thoughts and Prayers. To the Christian, prayer can and should be our first response to any trial. To the cynic though, this appears to be a platitude offered in place of any actual assistance, allowing the person sending out the thoughts and prayers to get credit for doing something when they’re not actually doing anything.

This is not an entirely unfair criticism. I’ve often used prayer as an excuse to do nothing. In my own drug addiction, I prayed for God to take it away, which I felt excused me from going to treatment or changing my life. What? I prayed about it. It’s in God’s hands now. As a Christian, prayer can become a way to say the right words without backing those words up with corresponding behavior. James, the brother of Jesus, pointed out this Christian hypocrisy – If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that (James 2:15-16)?

Saying one thing, while behaving differently, is the height of Christian hypocrisy. This is illustrated in today’s passage, in which Adonijah asked his brother, King Solomon, for Abishag’s hand in marriage. Adonijah had previously tried to take the throne, a capital offense, but Solomon forgave him and Adonijah pretended to honor Solomon as king. He said the right words. Then, however, he asked for Abishag to be his wife. Abishag had been one of King David’s concubines, and to ask for her hand in marriage was a direct effort to once again make a move for the throne. Adonijah said he honored Solomon as king, but his behavior said the opposite.

When we send out thoughts and prayers, how much time do we actually spend in prayer? We may be offended by those who’re cynical of our faith, but we must also be honest about it. I’d bet that a lot of us who say we’ll pray, never pray at all. So, I get why the world is cynical about our Thoughts and Prayers. I’m not saying we shouldn’t pray. We absolutely should. We also should be willing, when able to do so, to back up our prayers with behavior that says we care. If our words say we care, but our behavior says otherwise, the world will not be fooled.