Articles
Praying to the God Who Knows
“For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Mt. 5:8). Those are the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and it is His reasoning for not being like the Gentiles who used “meaningless repetition” (Mt. 6:7). Apparently, the Gentiles were convinced that the key to prayer was repeating the same thing over and over again. I can only speculate as to why they thought that. Regardless of their reasoning, they were wrong.
God doesn’t want meaningless repetition. He doesn’t need repetition at all since He already knows what we need.
It should be pointed out that repetition in prayer is not wrong. After all, on the night Jesus was betrayed He made the same prayer to God three times (Mt. 26:44). The problem isn’t repetition, it’s meaningless repetition. While Jesus prayed the same things three times, His prayers were fervent, His sweat became like blood, and He was in agony (Lk. 22:44). That repetition was as far from meaningless as a person can get.
But think about Jesus’ statement, “your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Mt. 5:8). Doesn’t that beg the question, why are we praying to God if He already knows what we need? In fact, He knows more than what we need. Much more. God is omniscient—all- knowing (I John 3:20). He knows what you want. He knows how you feel. He knows what you are going through. He knows everything. The purpose of prayer, then, cannot be to inform God. So then, why pray?
There is one simple answer to the question. We pray to an all-knowing God because He told us to (I Thes. 5:17; Lk. 18:1). That should be enough of a reason, right? God Almighty doesn’t have to explain Himself. If He makes a rule, we should obey it.
But God’s commands often have purpose and there is no reason to think this one is different. Upon reflection, the command to pray to an all-knowing God reveals…
That God wants to have a relationship with us. Communication is an important part of any relationship. God communicates to us through His word. Isn’t it wonderful that the conversation is not one-sided? God has given us the privilege and blessing of being able to go directly to Him in prayer. He knows what we want, but He wants to hear from us anyway.
That the act of praying may be beneficial to us. Anecdotally, I know this is true. I cannot count the number of times that I have been stressed going into a prayer only to have a tremendous amount of calm and comfort when I got to the “amen” of my prayer. God doesn’t need prayer. I do.
That prayer doesn’t show God what we need, but rather, who we need. We pray, not to inform God, but to show God that we need Him. Rather than relying on ourselves to satisfy our needs, we know that God is our solution. Through prayer, we put our trust in Him. At least, that is how it should be. Too often, we turn everywhere else before we turn to God. We turn to doctors to solve our health needs. We turn to financial guides to help with money needs. We turn to therapists to help with emotional needs. Not that those things are wrong, but when we turn to God first, we reveal our understanding that He is the one we really need.
Don’t forget to pray.
