Questions Day 11 Why Pray?
Read His Words Before Ours!
Genesis 3:8-13
Jeremiah 29:12-14
Jeremiah 33:2-3
Psalm 145:14-21
Questions, Day 11
What is the point of praying if God already knows everything?
The simple answer?
Relationship.
As early as the Garden of Eden where God handcrafted humanity and set them in Beauty itself to enjoy each other, their surroundings, but most of all Himself, we see God inviting His creation into relationship with Him.
How do we know?
Even though He knew the answers (because He is all-knowing (Psalm 147:5)), He still asked Adam and Eve questions.
The Scene in Eden….
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (because they had sinned)
God Asks….
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Adam’s Reply…
And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
God Asks….
He said, “Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
Adam’s Reply….
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
God Asks….
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”
Eve’s Reply….
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”” Genesis 3:8-13
Intentionally, carefully, with precise accuracy, the Lord engages Adam and Eve.
Not to shame them.
Not to flaunt His holiness before them.
Not to smite them with thunderbolts.
But to show them who they were in relationship to Himself.
God is omniscient.
Meaning He knows everything. (Psalm 139:1-6)
He knows the present, past and future. (Isaiah 46:9-10)
He knows what each person thinks and feels. (1 John 3:20)
Despite knowing every detail, He intentionally asked questions of Adam and Eve.
He asked questions to engage their hearts, stirring them to depth and intimacy with Himself, the only One who could ever satisfy them.
I recently celebrated my first wedding anniversary with my husband.
Marriage has been a very humbling journey thus far. I have learned a lot about myself and my husband, but the biggest lesson we’ve learned is how to communicate.
Before getting married, we thought we knew all about communicating with each other, but as our marriage began, we struggled with significant miscommunication and misunderstanding. About 4 months into marriage, clarity broke through when my husband was diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). Shortly after his diagnosis, a counselor helped us learn how to communicate with each other. In these sessions, we discovered we both spoke entirely different languages because we process language and social interaction quite differently. In order to make our marriage work, we would need to learn the other’s language.
While my husband and I both had to work hard and pursue each other to improve our communication, God is, and always has been, the One doing the pursuing.
In Eden, Adam and Eve didn’t walk around the Garden calling out for God, trying to get Him to talk to them and maybe forgive them. No, they ran and hid because of their sin and shame, but God, the Holy One, lovingly pursued and invited them to build a relationship through communication.
They were fully loved,
fully known,
and sought after as precious treasures.
Today, my husband and I are more deeply connected than ever before because we are finally able to talk.
That is what prayer is like!
It may feel strange at first, as if I was trying to learn Mandarin and my husband was trying to learn Portuguese, but the more you invest (because God first invited you! (1 John 4:19)), connection is built, and relationship deepens.
We know God, and we know too, that we are fully known by Him!
This is why we pray!
Prayer is a conversation with God, where He is completely present and fully engaged at all times, creating safety in being known.
It is unbridled.
It is unbarred.
It is untamed.
It is the place where we learn who God is, and who we are in light of Him.
In Jeremiah 29:12, He says He will listen to us.
In Jeremiah 33:3, He says He will reveal what we do not know.
In Psalm 145:18, He says He will be close to all who call on Him in truth.
Sisters, we take time out of our days to reach out to our friends and families via text, phone calls, email, or speaking face to face. These relationships are vitally important, but how much time are we investing in response to Our Heavenly Father’s invitation for relationship? Let’s choose today to begin deepening our communication with the One who has pursued us more than any other!
Know that the “why” behind prayer is solidly anchored
in His unconditional pursuant love for us!
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Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Questions Week Three! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
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