Shamanism and Prayer
Steve Anderson
...therefore I said, "Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favour of the Lord." So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering." And Samuel said, "you have acted foolishly..." - 1 Sam. 13:12-13
The book of 1 Samuel tells the story of a man who had the appearance of a worshipper of God, but who had the heart of a witch doctor. His name was Saul. In his disobedient act of sacrifice at Gilgal, King Saul showed that whatever pretensions he may have had to serving the Lord, his mind was really on how to make God do what he wanted. His foolish presumption cost him his kingdom, his dignity and eventually his life. His example can teach us very important things about our approach to God.
Notice that at Gilgal Saul was involved in a very respectable activity; he was offering a sacrifice to God. Notice also that he was seeking a good thing; Divine blessing upon the Lord's people in their battle against the enemies of God. Furthermore, his intentions in preparing the burnt offering were beneficent toward the people; he was striving to keep them unified in purpose. But his infraction against God's order shows that Saul had a twisted understanding of what a sacrifice was really about. He was trying to force God to bless his actions. He must have known that the manner in which he was offering it was contrary to the Lord's commandments, but that didn't stop him because he was even more strongly convinced that offering the sacrifice would work for him. It would produce the effect he desired -- it would oblige God to bless him. To Saul, a burnt offering was not so much an act of devotion as a technique, a method for inducing the Lord to "do the right thing" by blessing His people's efforts at the war. It was a strategy for invoking God's favour.
This is shamanism. It might seem like true religion, but it actually has far more in common with witchcraft. It's trappings are the trappings of the Divinely given Jewish system of sacrifice; but its objectives are those of the occultist. The goal of the occultist is to find the techniques for manipulating things in the physical world in such a way that the spiritual world will respond. He is a maker of charms, spells, rituals and incantations, which he hopes have spiritual power. He seeks to gain control over his destiny. He is in search of the right words or techniques to get what he wants; to gain supernatural control over whatever forces guide his fate. In effect, shamanism is the belief that through the right technique people can gain a measure of control over God, at least to coerce or influence his favour. Saul viewed sacrifices as a shamanistic activity. He was already leaning toward the occultist's view of God. There is a very small step indeed between Saul's kind of sacrifice and his decision to go to the witch at Endor.
This just shows us how subtle the human heart can be. We can be involved in religious activities. We can be addressing the true God. We can be seeking for something which seems to be an unqualified good. But with all this, we can still be practicing shamanism, not obedience. The difference is in the motivations of our heart, not in the trappings of our religious activity. If we are really hoping to sway God, to change His mind or to direct Him merely through our use of a particular set of words or religious postures, then we are guilty of being like Saul. We are thinking uncomplimentary things about His intentions toward us, and we are trying out techniques on Him, hoping to bring him to our side.
When we pray, we must be wary lest our attitude should slip into shamanism. We must not imagine that we can find any combination of magic words which can force God to respond favourably to our requests. It does not matter even if the words are, "Our beloved Lord and Heavenly Father..." if we are using it as an incantation to provoke the Lord to respond to us. The fact is that our Father already loves us, and He is always doing that which is best for us. Our role is to trust in that, and to petition Him as to how we may move in sympathy with his good will. It does not matter how pious and flattering, or even how Scriptural our words are if the goal in our hearts is to bend the Lord to do our will. We cannot coerce Him. He is in control - we are not. He is not fooled by fine language. God looks on the heart (1 Sam 16:7).
When we come to Him, it must not be to "get something done," it must be to experience a true conversation with God. To have an authentic conversation with someone, you must be as interested in receiving what he has to say as you are in giving him information. You must not come to the discussion with the objective of getting your own way, and of employing a strategy to manoeuver your friend into doing what you want. That is not conversation. That is manipulation. People rightly resent those who are always angling, always trying to get something, always trying to use them for some purpose. They want to be viewed as valuable, as an end in themselves; they do not want to be treated as merely a means to get to something else. Fellowship with God is the good purpose that we seek when we pray. Every petition, every request and every thought must be subservient to that purpose.
When we come to Him, we must remember that we are meeting with a real Person. He is not a "force" for us to tap, nor is He an object for us to act upon. He has His own perspective, values, emotions, intentions and objectives. He is not merely a collection of attributes; He is an integrated personality. As such, he deserves our utmost consideration, deference and respect. He has invited us to consult with Him, to enlist His aid and to request His favour; but He has not invited us to regard Him as an impersonal source of supply. To forget this is to insult the Lord by denying His the truth of His personhood. Even from our limited experience with human interactions, we should know this. If, when we speak to our friends and acquaintances we use conversation in a coercive way, we are dehumanizing those to whom we are speaking. We are reducing them to objects for our manipulation. We are making them into instruments. They respond by closing their hearts to us; and we deserve it, for our interest in them is not genuine. We are trying to make them pawns in our selfish game. If we habitually treat others in this way we will soon have no real friends at all.
Because God is a Person, we also must not come with a precooked idea of what we want. When we come to converse with a person whom we truly love and respect, we come without ulterior motives. We have no hidden agenda. Instead, we come to discuss and share openly. We are willing to change our minds about what ought to be done. We are interested in what achieves the goals of others, not merely in what achieves our own goals. We are in a tractable frame of mind. We are hoping to learn. We are willing to negotiate. We are prepared to change direction. Our primary objective is not in getting something for ourselves, but in finding out what is pleasing and beneficial to all concerned. If our best hopes are realized, then we will leave the conversation with an arrangement that will strengthen our friendship and coordinate our purposes; but whatever ideas we may have had at the start will have changed. They will have been transformed by the process of honest communication.
In just this way, our conversation with the Father ought to be authentic and sincere. When we pray, we ought not to be so brash as to imagine that we know what must be done before we even begin. We do not know any such thing. Our ways are not God's ways. We really ought to come to open our hearts to Him. We ought to begin with His Word, and yield ourselves to the implorations of His Spirit through our entire time of prayer. We ought to think deeply on His will, meditating on His Word all the while. We should let our words be few, and ears be open. We should know from the start that we ourselves must be transformed by the experience, and that whatever we thought at the beginning, it will be different at the end. After all, He who knows what we need before we utter it does not need to be "brought around to our way of thinking"; we need to be brought around to His.
In short, true conversation with God is free from the attitude of shamanism. It is not about getting things, no matter how good those things may seem to be. It is about having fellowship with a Person, sharing our thoughts, concerns and hopes, and reveling in our mutual joys. It transforms the one who prays, renewing the mind and heart. Its outcomes are predictable only to God; but because He is the One who is in control of all things, it is our most wonderful opportunity to express confidence in his ultimate goodness, and to trust in the kindness of His intentions toward us.
...therefore I said, "Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favour of the Lord." So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering." And Samuel said, "you have acted foolishly..." - 1 Sam. 13:12-13
The book of 1 Samuel tells the story of a man who had the appearance of a worshipper of God, but who had the heart of a witch doctor. His name was Saul. In his disobedient act of sacrifice at Gilgal, King Saul showed that whatever pretensions he may have had to serving the Lord, his mind was really on how to make God do what he wanted. His foolish presumption cost him his kingdom, his dignity and eventually his life. His example can teach us very important things about our approach to God.
Notice that at Gilgal Saul was involved in a very respectable activity; he was offering a sacrifice to God. Notice also that he was seeking a good thing; Divine blessing upon the Lord's people in their battle against the enemies of God. Furthermore, his intentions in preparing the burnt offering were beneficent toward the people; he was striving to keep them unified in purpose. But his infraction against God's order shows that Saul had a twisted understanding of what a sacrifice was really about. He was trying to force God to bless his actions. He must have known that the manner in which he was offering it was contrary to the Lord's commandments, but that didn't stop him because he was even more strongly convinced that offering the sacrifice would work for him. It would produce the effect he desired -- it would oblige God to bless him. To Saul, a burnt offering was not so much an act of devotion as a technique, a method for inducing the Lord to "do the right thing" by blessing His people's efforts at the war. It was a strategy for invoking God's favour.
This is shamanism. It might seem like true religion, but it actually has far more in common with witchcraft. It's trappings are the trappings of the Divinely given Jewish system of sacrifice; but its objectives are those of the occultist. The goal of the occultist is to find the techniques for manipulating things in the physical world in such a way that the spiritual world will respond. He is a maker of charms, spells, rituals and incantations, which he hopes have spiritual power. He seeks to gain control over his destiny. He is in search of the right words or techniques to get what he wants; to gain supernatural control over whatever forces guide his fate. In effect, shamanism is the belief that through the right technique people can gain a measure of control over God, at least to coerce or influence his favour. Saul viewed sacrifices as a shamanistic activity. He was already leaning toward the occultist's view of God. There is a very small step indeed between Saul's kind of sacrifice and his decision to go to the witch at Endor.
This just shows us how subtle the human heart can be. We can be involved in religious activities. We can be addressing the true God. We can be seeking for something which seems to be an unqualified good. But with all this, we can still be practicing shamanism, not obedience. The difference is in the motivations of our heart, not in the trappings of our religious activity. If we are really hoping to sway God, to change His mind or to direct Him merely through our use of a particular set of words or religious postures, then we are guilty of being like Saul. We are thinking uncomplimentary things about His intentions toward us, and we are trying out techniques on Him, hoping to bring him to our side.
When we pray, we must be wary lest our attitude should slip into shamanism. We must not imagine that we can find any combination of magic words which can force God to respond favourably to our requests. It does not matter even if the words are, "Our beloved Lord and Heavenly Father..." if we are using it as an incantation to provoke the Lord to respond to us. The fact is that our Father already loves us, and He is always doing that which is best for us. Our role is to trust in that, and to petition Him as to how we may move in sympathy with his good will. It does not matter how pious and flattering, or even how Scriptural our words are if the goal in our hearts is to bend the Lord to do our will. We cannot coerce Him. He is in control - we are not. He is not fooled by fine language. God looks on the heart (1 Sam 16:7).
When we come to Him, it must not be to "get something done," it must be to experience a true conversation with God. To have an authentic conversation with someone, you must be as interested in receiving what he has to say as you are in giving him information. You must not come to the discussion with the objective of getting your own way, and of employing a strategy to manoeuver your friend into doing what you want. That is not conversation. That is manipulation. People rightly resent those who are always angling, always trying to get something, always trying to use them for some purpose. They want to be viewed as valuable, as an end in themselves; they do not want to be treated as merely a means to get to something else. Fellowship with God is the good purpose that we seek when we pray. Every petition, every request and every thought must be subservient to that purpose.
When we come to Him, we must remember that we are meeting with a real Person. He is not a "force" for us to tap, nor is He an object for us to act upon. He has His own perspective, values, emotions, intentions and objectives. He is not merely a collection of attributes; He is an integrated personality. As such, he deserves our utmost consideration, deference and respect. He has invited us to consult with Him, to enlist His aid and to request His favour; but He has not invited us to regard Him as an impersonal source of supply. To forget this is to insult the Lord by denying His the truth of His personhood. Even from our limited experience with human interactions, we should know this. If, when we speak to our friends and acquaintances we use conversation in a coercive way, we are dehumanizing those to whom we are speaking. We are reducing them to objects for our manipulation. We are making them into instruments. They respond by closing their hearts to us; and we deserve it, for our interest in them is not genuine. We are trying to make them pawns in our selfish game. If we habitually treat others in this way we will soon have no real friends at all.
Because God is a Person, we also must not come with a precooked idea of what we want. When we come to converse with a person whom we truly love and respect, we come without ulterior motives. We have no hidden agenda. Instead, we come to discuss and share openly. We are willing to change our minds about what ought to be done. We are interested in what achieves the goals of others, not merely in what achieves our own goals. We are in a tractable frame of mind. We are hoping to learn. We are willing to negotiate. We are prepared to change direction. Our primary objective is not in getting something for ourselves, but in finding out what is pleasing and beneficial to all concerned. If our best hopes are realized, then we will leave the conversation with an arrangement that will strengthen our friendship and coordinate our purposes; but whatever ideas we may have had at the start will have changed. They will have been transformed by the process of honest communication.
In just this way, our conversation with the Father ought to be authentic and sincere. When we pray, we ought not to be so brash as to imagine that we know what must be done before we even begin. We do not know any such thing. Our ways are not God's ways. We really ought to come to open our hearts to Him. We ought to begin with His Word, and yield ourselves to the implorations of His Spirit through our entire time of prayer. We ought to think deeply on His will, meditating on His Word all the while. We should let our words be few, and ears be open. We should know from the start that we ourselves must be transformed by the experience, and that whatever we thought at the beginning, it will be different at the end. After all, He who knows what we need before we utter it does not need to be "brought around to our way of thinking"; we need to be brought around to His.
In short, true conversation with God is free from the attitude of shamanism. It is not about getting things, no matter how good those things may seem to be. It is about having fellowship with a Person, sharing our thoughts, concerns and hopes, and reveling in our mutual joys. It transforms the one who prays, renewing the mind and heart. Its outcomes are predictable only to God; but because He is the One who is in control of all things, it is our most wonderful opportunity to express confidence in his ultimate goodness, and to trust in the kindness of His intentions toward us.
