Appeal to God
Not only has God told us about the amazing privilege we have been given through Christ to come before the creator of the universe with our thanks and concerns, but we are regularly commanded to practice that privilege.
Prayer is so important that even when we don’t know how we ought to pray, the Spirit steps in to make up for our lack in this area.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:26
This leads me to consider, how ought we to pray? One thing that I believe is almost entirely lacking in the modern church that is common throughout the lives of godly men found nearly everywhere in scripture is one phrase (which David used perhaps most of all).
For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Psalm 25:11 (emphasis mine)
Moses’s Plea
There were many cases where Moses had to serve as an advocate for the people of Israel because God revealed he intended to destroy them. They deserved destruction for the golden calf, for complaining about lack of water, and then about lack of meat. The leaders tried to take authority from Moses. When they finally got to the promised land, they complained that the inhabitants were too powerful.
In multiple cases, God told Moses he intended to destroy them for their faithlessness until Moses prayed for them to be spared. In these cases, he didn’t pray for the sake of the people, but because otherwise nations would see that they had died in the desert and might think God was incapable of saving them.
While pleading for the people not to die, his chief concern was how their death may be misunderstood not as the wrath of God but as his inability.
David’s Psalms
As mentioned earlier, this concept is found in many of David’s prayers. He acknowledge that Israel was made a great people so that far away nations might even here of the goodness of God. He recognizes that he was saved from his enemies so that he could use his life to teach others about the righteousness of God.
In all of these cases, David’s prayer was for God to do what was best not for himself nor for others, but to glorify God.
Not for Us Either
As I’ve written about before, this concept applies even to our salvation. While many today believe God’s salvation was primarily for our benefit. We instead should understand that, before all of the benefit to those being saved, salvation is meant to bring glory to God.
It’s not only beneficial to us to bring our cares and concerns before God, but also commanded that we do so. However, before we do that, it can be extremely helpful to reflect upon if we are bringing our requests before God with his glory first in our minds.
This cannot be because we imagine we’re going to trick God into giving us what we want by pretending he can benefit. He knows our motives and needs nothing from us. Instead, it’s to get our own minds right. Maybe we have been conditioned enough to know better than to pray for selfish requests. However, many likely think it would be noble to pray to God for the good of others.
This can still miss the mark, however. All of creation exists for his glory. There is nothing that has been created that matters more than this one point, because our purpose first is to honor him. No event is more tragic than God not being glorified. Not even a life more sacred.
If we cannot identify how our prayers being answered will bring greater glory to God, the Spirit may intercede but our prayers are otherwise not what they ought to be. This is likely a sign we do not understand the heart of God. That would likely be a good prayer to start!
