Pray the Promise
“I don’t see the point in praying. God is going to do whatever he’s going to do whether I pray or not.”
I’ve heard that despairing comment - or something like it - from many people over the years. It seems to me that they’ve either forgotten the great meaning of prayer, communion with God, or the great privilege of prayer, to partner with God to accomplish his will. Or perhaps they’d forgotten both. Have we?
God could act without our prayers and has often done so. Yet God has also promised to act in the world by our prayers rather than without them, making us his co-laborers in the extension of his kingdom of grace. That’s a humbling and astonishing truth. Martin Luther was moved by it and wrote, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness.”
This is why one of my favorite inspirations for earnest prayer is the prophet, Daniel. In a lovely autobiographical moment, he describes what moved him to prayer and how he went about it.
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God... - Daniel 9:1-4
There is an infinite number of reasons to read, study, hear, teach, and meditate on God’s word, the Sacred Scriptures. One often-overlooked reason, however, is prayer. In the passage above we see Daniel reading Jeremiah the prophet and acting on what he read. I’m sure you’ve read Jeremiah as well, but imagine the excitement that gripped Daniel’s heart when he was reading along and discovered that it was time for Jeremiah’s prophetic word to be accomplished. This is the passage Daniel read that day:
This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.” - 29:10
Daniel was no doubt stunned to check his watch and the calendar and come to the conclusion that the seventy years of exile were over and the time for fulfillment had come. So what is Daniel’s response? Does he start a petition drive? Does he call a meeting of fellow Jews living in exile? Does he appeal to the King? Does he sit back and say to himself, ‘God has spoken. He will do it. I will sit here and see how that all works out.’ He does none of these things. What he does is what we must all do: Daniel prays the promise.
Daniel takes the word of God and makes it the basis of his prayer to God. The word of God fills his heart and mind and he offers it up in prayer long before he announces it to others. This is the best and most sure way to proceed in prayer. Prayer is in concert with the Scriptures - we prayerfully read the Scriptures and pour the Scriptures over our prayers. It is always a better place to begin in prayer by saying, “Lord, you have said that…” rather than “Lord, I am saying this…”
Let me urge you today to take up the promise of God in Scripture and echo it back to him in prayer. Lift your voice in the language of the Apostles and Prophets; let the words of Jesus and the Psalmist and Moses teach your tongue to intercede and offer praise and do battle. Let us read God’s word and then lift up to God his own word as our own prayer. Let us pray the promise of God to God. God heard and answered Daniel. He will hear and answer you too!
Compassionate God,
as you know each star you have created,
so you know the secrets of every heart;
in your loving mercy bring to your table
all who are fearful and broken,
all who are wounded and needy,
that our hunger may be satisfied
in the city of your peace;
through Christ who is our peace.