On January 2, 2023 a safety playing for the Buffalo Bills National Football League was hit squarely in the chest while making a tackle. Damar Hamlin sprung back up from the contact and stood still for a second or two before collapsing onto the field. His heart had gone into cardiac arrest. The emergency medical crew worked on him for 19 minutes on the field. CPR was administered and an automatic external defibrillator was used to get his heart going again. He stayed at the local Cincinnati hospital in the ICU for days. While he was there, in critical condition, an absolutely amazing thing happened.
People across the nation prayed for him.
The NFL messaging system read “Prayers for Damar 3” (his jersey number is 3). All 32 teams included “Pray for Damar” on their Twitter avatars. Former quarterback Dan Orlovsky prayed for Hamlin during the NFL’s live broadcast the day after the game. It seemed everywhere you turned there were people talking about the man and praying for his well-being.
Damar was transferred to a Buffalo hospital and then released on January 11. He met with his team and seems to be recovering well.
It comes as no surprise to me that prayer changes things. And there must be a large number of people who agree with me on this, or else why would they pray at all? There are many reasons to pray of course. One of the reasons people pray is because they want something badly and they don’t see any way to make that a reality on their own. I find that interesting though. If you want something and you can make it happen “on your own” (whatever that really means), then wouldn’t you also want to involve God in it?
Damar Hamlin’s recovery has been amazing, and many people are attributing this to what they call “answered prayer.” And this too I find very interesting. Certainly I agree that prayers were answered here. But what worries me is the way in which this phrase is often used.
Does God only answer prayer when you get what you asked for? If you don’t is that considered an unanswered prayer? This line of thinking can be spiritually dangerous. “I didn’t get what I wanted.” you might say, “therefore God didn’t take the time to notice me.”
Here is what I think about this: God always answers prayer. Your prayers will always be answered. You will always be noticed. You will always be loved. But sometimes the answer may well be “no.”
Those of you who are parents probably know this kind of thing well. You child asks for something and you say “I love you, but the answer is no.” The child didn’t get what he or she wanted, but the love is still there. The attention is still there. And your negative answer almost certainly won’t stop your child from asking for something else in the future. And maybe next time the answer will be “yes.” Can you imagine a scenario where the child got what they asked for all the time? What kind of person would that child grow to become?
Prayer is a fundamental aspect of faith. It is the kind of thing that should be going on all the time. Notice how it fits right into the list of things below:
1 Thessolonians 12:18
12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
And whether the answer is “yes” or “no,” prayer definitely changes things. When Hamlin’s life was still in the balance, a remarkable thing was happening. Just days before the game that put him in the hospital Hamlin had posted about his charity, the Chasing M’s Foundation, that he set up to raise money for children’s toys. It took a couple of years but the charity had finally met its goal of raising 2500 dollars. After the Monday night game was cancelled over 148,000 people had contributed to his charity for a total of around 4 million dollars. This amount continues to climb. It is almost at the 9 million mark.
Let that be a lesson to us all. Prayer is always answered. And prayer always changes things. You included.
God Bless.