Why Prayer? Why Repetition?

As the last verse I just quoted says, God is all-knowing, even of the future. He already knows what we need before we even come to Him in prayer. So why is there prayer? If we know the answer to that, then we will also know the answer to why there is repetition in prayer that is not vain repetition.

The answer comes from the lips of David, son of Jesse, a king of Israel:

Ps 17:6-8

6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.

7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.

8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

(KJV)

“The apple of the eye” is a metaphor obscure to the West but very familiar to the East. In the East, more people tend to have completely jet black irises than do people in the West. One consequence of having completely jet black irises is that if you get close enough to a person, you can see a reflection of yourself in the person’s iris. That is what “the apple of the eye” is. And it is the language of lovers. In prayer, King David was requesting that God stay as close to him as a lover.

But God always takes the initiative in this.

Ps 36:7

7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

(KJV)

Deut 10:15

15 Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

(KJV)

Deut 32:8-10

8 When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

(KJV)

Zech 2:7-8

7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.[in captivity]

8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

(KJV)

Prov 11:20

20 They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight.

(KJV)

Prov 12:22

22 Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.

(KJV)

Prov 15:8

8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

(KJV)

Job 7:17-18

17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?

18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?

(KJV)

John 3:16-17

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

(KJV)

God created us to have Him as the apple of our spiritual eyes, and as such, we are the apple of His. He meant for us to be like Himself with respect to such things as honesty and uprightness so that He can also love us without becoming unlike Himself. But love implies the ability to choose and to choose unwisely. So He has, in His Son, taken on human flesh and human wounds to love us as much as He fervently desires us to love Him. And to a great many, even that love does not avail.

If He delays in answering a prayer, it is not just because He wants us to prove to Him (and ourselves) that we really want what we request and really believe that He can and will give it to us, but also because He loves to have the attention He created us for. In Him, we swimmers in His sea of time “live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). He ever loves it when any one of us stops for a moment in that time to turn and pay attention to Him.

Earlier I used the analogy of email to describe the prayers that we direct to God. At first blush, it seemed like a pretty up to date and snazzy analogy to use. But the reflection of a lover reveals that this analogy is as profane and insulting to God as the Hollywood movie from which it came (Bruce Almighty).

God is the creator of time, and stands outside of it. All the prayers prayed to Him from the beginning of time to its end come to Him, not sequentially like an infinitely long list of email messages, but “all at once” (if that phrase has any meaning in eternity.) In eternity, every moment in time is as available to God as evey other moment in time, from time’s beginning to time’s end. Not a moment that He devotes to any one of us in time takes away a single moment from any one other of us in time. Every one of us has God’s total, complete, and undivided attention, without it subtracting an iota from God’s total and complete attention of any one other of us. He always knows the exact number of the hairs on our heads, and everything else there will ever be to know about us. And the desire of His ever fervent heart is for some attention from us.

This is that “good part” that will never be taken away from Mary, the sister of Martha:

Luke 10:38-42

38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

(KJV)

Those about to become lovers often play the subconscious Freudian game of “accidently” leaving a possession behind with the intended. It is the wise lover who procrastinates on returning the article that is later asked to be returned. Such procrastination creates other occasions for the request to be repeated in person. This is the double wisdom of the God of love, who both prepares us to receive what we ask for, while enjoying the game while it continues to be played.

Let us play it early and often.