Praying on Survivor

I’m a big fan of the game that is played on the TV show Survivor.  One thing that has been interesting in the past few seasons are some of the more religious people that have been on the show.  There was one lady in China who won a trip to go visit some sort of Buddhist monastery, but walked out of a “non-religious” ceremony that involved bowing.

Then, most recently, there was a big event that was going to change the course of the game.  Before the event, some players got together to pray.  They didn’t pray for anything specific to happen, and in fact one of them said that she was the not the kind of person to pray for her football team to win.  Instead, they just prayed to God that his will would be done. 

It struck me as so odd.  There they were, eyes clenched and holding hands, earnestly asking that whatever was going to happen, please let it happen.  I mean, if you pray for something specific to happen, that makes some sense to me.  “Please heal my grandmother, who is dying of cancer” or whatever.  But if you pray for anything and everything to happen the way that it would EVEN IF YOU DIDN’T PRAY, what’s the point?

It seemed to make them feel better, though.  And for the record, the plan they hatched (but didn't specificially pray would work) didn't work.  The guy they were hoping to blindside won the event and was safe from being voted out.  Perhaps if they'd just prayed a little harder.

This clip wasn't on the show, but references it:

I also heard about someone mentioning this, and did some Googling around.  There is a movement called “Pray Until Something Happens”, or PUSH.

From the top website:

The way to get real-life results in prayer is to seek God with an attitude that says, “No matter how long it takes, or whatever I have to do, I will not be denied”. This is not arrogance, it’s Godly hunger. It is not about pushing God, but about pushing yourself into God. This is not praying for the sake of praying. This is praying to see the hand of God move. This is desperate hungry praying. This is the type of prayer that gets answers.

So, if I want to get “real life results” about something, I should pray for/about it.  And if I don’t get an answer?  Keep praying, "no matter how long it takes".  Is that really good advice?  I wonder how long people actually keep this up before they either change the prayer to something more reasonable, or accept whatever reality is facing them, or just give up.

Perhaps I pray for some extra money, because I’m struggling to pay bills.  I pray earnestly every day.  Then one day I find a dime in the street.  That might not be the intent of my prayer, but I could see someone thinking it was the work of God and teaching some lesson in humility or something.

What if I prayed earnestly and constantly for the ability to fly?  Or for my amputated arm to grow back?  Is there really any reason why God couldn’t answer those prayers?

What if I prayed for someone’s cancer to go away, and they end up dying?  Did I not pray correctly or hard enough?  What if they end up living?  Would I then be stronger in a belief that prayer actually does something?

It kind of makes my head spin.  I just don’t get it.