Why Pray?

Psalm 115:16:
The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men

What happens here on a day-to-day basis is more up to us and to our choices than it is up to God.  Obviously, some events like the Second Coming and the Tribulation will happen anyway, but how much God moves in your life, in your church, and in your area depends more on man than on God.  What we have and do not have is mostly up to us!

It was that way in the beginning, too. Adam was supposed to take care of the earth. He had dominion over all of it. It was up to Adam, not God, whether Satan would have the legal right to mess up the earth. Adam gave him that right, and God honored Adam’s choice even though it was the wrong one because He had given Adam authority here.

Some people claim that our sovereign God will just do whatever He wants anyway.  But if that’s true, we’re all wasting our time praying, and Jesus wasted His time praying. The “whatever will be, will be” mentality comes from Doris Day, not the Bible!

God will even honor some second-best requests! Israel prayed for a king and got King Saul, who was no bargain.  It was not God’s intention to set up a king like the other nations had, but when the people agreed for it, God granted man’s request anyway.

Sometimes we just miss out by not praying.

James 4:2:
 …Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

God knows what we need, but it’s still up to us to ask!

Matthew 7:7:
Ask, and it will be given to you…

Matthew 6:8:
…For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Notice that although He knows what you need, you are still supposed to ask!

Man’s prayers can even avert judgement on whole cities or countries! God was willing to just wipe out Israel and start all over again with Moses, but Moses nixed the idea and insisted that God preserve Israel, and God let Moses overrule Him! God didn’t immediately wipe out Israel, though He left almost all of them to die in the wilderness.  See Numbers 14:12-24.

God told Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom, and Abraham bargained with God on Sodom’s behalf!  He finally got God to agree that if He could find ten righteous people there, He would save the whole city for their sake.  Unfortunately, there weren’t ten righteous there, and Sodom was destroyed. (You can find this story in Genesis 18:16-33.) But despite the doom-and-gloom prophecies put forth by some, there are more than ten righteous in the United States of America, so surely we can ask for mercy for this nation. A famous person has said that if God doesn’t judge us, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah, but we have more righteous people than Sodom ever had, and God makes it clear that He will spare the land for the sake of only a few righteous.

Finally, here is another familiar verse that once again proves that we, not God, can determine whether God intervenes in our country or not: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

The sinners aren’t going to pray for revival and restoration in our country – that is our job! But let’s pray with confidence, knowing that God will hear and answer us!

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