Many, if not most, people worldwide worship or acknowledge a higher power. This external force goes by many names, but the moniker “god” has become commonplace in many languages. “Oh my god” doesn’t necessarily refer to a specific deity (such as the Christian God) but to that which we cannot understand through logic. I have even heard avowed atheists use the expression.

Believers, however, are rather fickle people. In Christianity, my heritage faith upbringing, we are taught to pray to God. We ask God for blessings, what we want or need and to thank God for whatever we believe God has given us. One foundational belief I was taught was that God always hears our prayers, but God’s answer might be “no.”

In many Christian traditions, we are taught to pray for God’s curing mercy for disease and other maladies. “Please cure me of cancer” is a common one. In my tradition, we visit sick people and pray for their recovery from whatever ails them.

When tragedy strikes, we are told that God “never gives us more troubles than we can handle.” This teaching is not in the Bible but has become commonplace in most Christianity. Its source is likely the book of Job in the Hebrew Bible, but the words of that story have been........

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