By Jeffery M. Leonard, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Religion, Samford University
Praying for Ourselves
Matthew 6:11b; Isaiah 38:1–6, 15–17
There is a temptation into which those of us who have been believers for many years can fall. As we’ve studied and reflected, reflected and studied, we can reach the point where we feel we have every theological “i” dotted and “t” crossed. When we reach this point though I wonder whether we venture into territory even the authors of the New Testament did not believe they had reached.
In his first letter to the believers at Corinth the Apostle Paul confessed, “For now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12). Even Paul, perhaps the greatest of the Church’s theologians, admitted that on this side of heaven we see only a dim reflection of the truth God has in store for us.
Nowhere are our theological limitations more evident than in the area of prayer. If God is sovereign, will He not do what He wills, regardless of our prayers? If God is omniscient, does He not know what He will do, regardless of our prayers? If God answers prayer only when we ask according to His will, will He not act according to His will, regardless of whether we ask?
Logically and theologically, the answers to all of these questions should be yes. And yet biblical authors repeatedly refuse to give in to these notions. As James insists, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).
Take your needs to God in prayer. (Matt. 6:11b; Isa. 38:1–3)
We see the truth of James’ conviction lived out in the life of Judah’s King Hezekiah. Jesus instructed His disciples to ask of God, “Give us this day our daily bread.” For Hezekiah this act of praying for his own needs took the form of praying that God would heal him of a terrible disease. Isaiah himself told the king that the Lord had pronounced his doom: “Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”
When God, the God who knows all, decrees all — and does not change His mind — declares, “You shall die, you shall not recover,” surely it is time to accept one’s fate and get one’s affairs in order. Hezekiah does no such thing. Instead he defies all theological logic and begs God to heal him.
God graciously answers our requests in accordance with His will. (Isa. 38:4–6)
Unexpectedly, God responds to Hezekiah’s prayer and relents from His earlier pronouncement. The same God who decreed, “You will not recover,” now decrees that Hezekiah will live and that he will enjoy 15 more years of life to boot. It is simply not possible to square the circle of these two notions without performing extraordinary feats of textual and theological gymnastics.
Thankfully it is not only impossible to square this theological circle, it also is unnecessary. Instead we are called to remember with humility that in this life, even Paul admits we will not understand everything there is to know about our Creator.
God answers in a way that benefits and strengthens us. (Isa. 38:15–17)
Our calling is not to understand but to trust, to trust that the God we serve “causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). As with Hezekiah, our task is not to explain God’s works but to praise them.
Jesus does not ask His Father where His daily bread is to come from or whether the Father would have supplied had He not asked at all. Jesus merely asks and gives thanks, and He invites us to follow His own example.
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