IF GOD LOVES US AND ALREADY KNOWS WHAT WE NEED, WHY DO WE HAVE TO PRAY?

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Do we have to inform Him of things He might not know?

Do we have to beg Him for things He might not want to give us?

Do we have to demonstrate our worthiness by self-flagellating persistence?

Of course, none of those things can be true. But what is true? What is the purpose of prayer? For many of us, the purpose of prayer is to get answers. Like a cosmic vending machine: prayer in = answer out.

The problem is – if you haven’t noticed – it rarely works that way.

We pray for good things and don’t get them. We pray not to get bad things and get them anyway. We get good things we didn’t even ask for. For many, prayer can be a befuddlement at best and a discouragement at worst. We’re sometimes ready to pound and kick the vending machine to try to make it give us our “purchase.”

Like toddlers who are too undeveloped to understand their parents, or like teen-agers who are too self-absorbed to agree with their parents, we can fall short of grasping the central issue of prayer: love.

James Packer writes, “The purpose of prayer is the cultivation of a love-based relationship

between God and us, in which we make occasional requests of God, and God makes occasional requests of us, both looking for each to give the other his best.”ı

Ahh. So, it’s love?!?

Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants, because the servant does not know his master’s

business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I learned from my father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)

We are now friends with God. We have moved way beyond a vending-machine relationship. So, let’s look more closely at this purpose of prayer.

IF GOD LOVES US, AND IF GOD KNOWS

WHAT WE NEED BEFORE WE ASK,

WHY DO WE HAVE TO PRAY?

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1. GOD IS OUR LOVING

HEAVENLY FATHER

A major hurdle for many Christians is coming to grips with the fact that God loves us, in spite the fact that He allows suffering in our lives

Therefore, we must nurture our conviction that God loves us, even when He doesn’t make our life go better. If we lose sight that fact, our prayer will always deteriorate when things get hard.

When life goes south, we may be tempted to say, “if I truly loved someone, I would help them more than God seems to be helping me.” And we begin to doubt either God’s goodness or His love. Elizabeth Elliot spoke for many of us when she wrote, “Our vision is so limited we can hardly

imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering… The love of God did not protect His own Son… He will not necessarily protect us – not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.”

(Passion and Purity)

This begs the question, “If God is all-good and if God is all-powerful why does he allow so much pain and evil, especially in the lives of his children?”

The answer to that age-old question ultimately dissolves into mystery.

However, we can accept - by faith - that there is an answer that we do not currently know, or cannot currently understand. And, there is truth in Scripture that points us in the direction of the answer.

CULTIVATING A LOVE-BASED RELATIONSHIP

WITH GOD THROUGH PRAYER

The Bible tells us that God is good: “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His

loving kindness is everlasting.” (Psalm 107:1)

He steadfastly works for the good of His children: “God causes all things to work

together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

He solved the needs of humanity by sacrificing the life of His Son: “For God so loved the

world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Wherever God is followed authentically, goodness bubbles up, overflows, and washes over everything: “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law

of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart.” (Psalm 119:1-2)

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Whether you look at events on the macro level (Israel/Judah in the Old Testament, the United States today) or the micro level (Corrie ten Boom, Joni Eareckson Tada, Christians who have suffered greatly, yet give powerful testimony of the goodness of God), wherever God and His word are followed authentically, goodness breaks out, like sunshine on a cloudy day.

As a result, we admit that we do not know why God allows pain and evil and suffering in our lives… but because he paid the price to ultimately remove the sin and to correct the results, and because He richly blesses all who follow Him authentically, we can accept by faith that there is a valid reason, and we can love and serve him in spite of our pain.

James encourages us to “consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4). The presence of suffering does not mean the absence of God’s goodness and/or love.

2. GOD WANTS US TO RECIPROCATE,

BY BEING A LOVING HEAVENLY CHILD

God has adopted us into His family (Ephesians 1:5).

We are His children, and He wants from us the same thing earthly parents want from their children: love.

Jesus Himself gave us the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all you soul, and with all your mind.”

(Matthew 22:37)

The Bible uses the imagery of an earthly father to help us understand God’s love for us (“Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him”

- Psalm 103:13-14).

God wants us to love Him as an earthly child would love an earthly parent, and more.

3. GOD WANTS A LOVE-RELATIONSHIP

TO GOVERN OUR PRAYER

Prayer is a relationship, not a transaction.

We tend to view prayer as a transaction: “Okay God, I’ll give you this if You’ll give me that.” • I’ll give you my regular worship,

• I’ll give you my money, • I’ll give you a good clean life,

• I’ll give you my time and talent,

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The thing that puzzled me for so long as an early Christian was that there seemed to be so many people for whom this transaction-type relationship worked. One person I knew who lived in comparative peace and prosperity used to say, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

So when it didn’t work for me, my grasp of prayer collapsed.

Beginning to understand that prayer is more than tapping into a celestial treasure trove from which we get the things we want is the beginning point for entering into mature prayer. To be sure, God gives us full freedom to ask for what we want (John 16:24). He even gives us freedom to hammer on heaven’s door for things we feel strongly about (Luke 11:5-8). But in the end, as we trust Him, as we love Him, as we accept that His answer (whatever it is) is best for us, then prayer can become what it was intended to be.

How can we trust Him in this?

As we interpret God’s not giving us what we ask for as a sign of His ultimate love and high plan for us, we cease questioning His goodness and love. As we look for ways to understand how the non-granting of a request can contribute to our ultimate welfare, we begin to look at the world as God does, and we begin to understand that His purpose for us is higher than merely granting our request.

To do this, of course, we must abandon ourselves to an eternal perspective. It may not be until we get to heaven and receive our ultimate reward that we understand God’s good plan for us.

If a two-year old could foresee that he/she will one day be an Olympic athlete, they would not resent their parent’s refusal to allow them to eat junk food all day.

In the same way, a Christian may need to go into the future to imagine the reward we will receive in heaven. As the apostle Paul wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). In doing so, we can borrow that future reality and bring it back to help us endure present reality.

In this way, we can rest content in God’s answers to our prayers, and use prayer to grow in our love relationship with Him.

CONCLUSION

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DEVOTED: THE STORY OF A FATHER’S LOVE FOR HIS SON

Rick Hoyt and his father, Dick, better known as Team Hoyt, have crossed more than 1,000 finish lines together, including 27 Boston Marathons, seven Ironman Triathlons, a coast-to-coast trek, and countless shorter races. But their impact goes way beyond running. They’ve embodied the message that disability is not synonymous with limitation and that love can move mountains.

In their book, Devoted, Massachusetts native Dick, with the help of sportswriter Don Yaeger, hones that message and details his journey from the young father of a spastic quadriplegic to an out-of-shape dad pushing his wheelchair-bound son in a 5K charity race to a YouTube phenomenon. A 2008 video depicting one of their Ironman triathlons, set to uplifting music, has been viewed more than nine million times.

“I was running for Rick, who longed to be an athlete but had no way to pursue his passion,” Dick writes. “I wasn’t running for my own pleasure. I was simply loaning my arms and legs to my son.”

Written in appropriately quick and efficient prose, what Dick, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, pens is, in essence, an unconditional-love letter to his firstborn. Rick entered the world in 1962 with cerebral palsy after the umbilical cord had choked off oxygen to his brain. At the time, disabled children were routinely sent to institutions. But Dick and Judy Hoyt were determined to give their son the same opportunities as able-bodied kids. Judy fought to enroll Rick in public school and helped pass Massachusetts’ Chapter 766, the first special-education reform law in the country.

Rick cannot speak, and at first glance would appear to be mentally challenged. But he is not. There is not thing wrong with his mind, and the majestic vision his parents had for trying to help him be as normal as possible is the difference between a life of vegetation and a rich, full, active life that has garnered worldwide attention. He can communicate with a computer aid, and later graduated from BU, where he lived on campus, posted solid grades, and socialized with the best of them. With a degree in special education, Rick now works at Boston College, helping develop computer-aided mechanical systems.

“I have a list of things I would do for you if I was not disabled,” Rick writes to his dad in the book’s final chapter. “Tops on that list: I would do my best to race the World Championship Ironman pulling, pushing and pedaling you. Then I would push you in the Boston Marathon. “Thanks” may be shallow. But I have to thank you for being so devoted to me. I am just as devoted to you.” 2

Here is the point: there’s not a thing father Dick needed that son Rick could give him. However, Rick could give him his devotion. And even then, he could not demonstrate his devotion. He could only express it.

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But that’s enough. Dick’s life has been deeply, broadly, toweringly enriched simply because of the devotion he has received from his son. There is not another thing in the world that son Rick could have given him that would have been more precious.

God hopes, I think, that we would see the level of devotion Rick has for his dad, and that it would be an inspiration to us - seeing how devoted God is to us - to be just as devoted to Him.

There’s not a thing God needs that we can give Him. But we can give Him our devotion. And that is all He wants.

He doesn’t want to be our heavenly vending machine any more than an earthly parent wants to be an earthly vending machine for their children.

When the miracle begins to happen, that we begin to see prayer as the cultivation of a love-relationship with God rather than seeing God as a heavenly vending machine, prayer begins to rise to its higher purpose.