Most ancient Middle Eastern cultures related to their gods in a very transactional manner. If you wanted something, you had to give the gods something they wanted. This even included the way you prayed. In 2 Kings Chapter 18, the prophets of the god Baal did all kinds of things to earn their god’s attention. They shouted, they did a strange limping dance, they even cut themselves—all to get Baal to respond.
Many Christians today have a similar relationship with God. They believe it’s important to use just the right Bible verses, phrases, declarations, repetition, and emotion—all put together in just the right way—to get God to answer their prayers. The problem with this view is that it creates all kinds of anxiety around our relationship with God.
If God doesn’t answer our prayer, have we prayed the right way? Have we done something to make him angry? How do we need to pray to make him happy again? All this leads to a fear-based relationship with God, where we can start to wonder if God even cares about us. What do we have to do to get him to notice us?
Jesus offers a radically different way of understanding God. He starts by calling God “Father.” In first-century Judea, it would have been a sign of profound disrespect to call God “Father.” But for Jesus, “Father” summed up who God is—someone who cares deeply for you. Someone who knows you so well that he knows just what you need even before you ask.
Far from being a god who waits for us to get it right before he acts, our Heavenly Father “loved us first” (1 John 4:10) by sending Jesus to rescue us from all that would keep us from a forever life with him. This is the God we pray to, the one who’s already on the move!
Reflection:
- What does it mean that our Heavenly Father knows what we need even before we ask? How do you think that influences the way he responds?
- What does it mean that our Heavenly Father knows what we really need, even if we don’t? Have you ever had an experience where you asked for one thing and he gave you something else that turned out to be what you really needed? What was that like?
- How does it influence your prayers, knowing that your Heavenly Father knows you better than you know yourself?