In Solomon’s dedication prayer, up till now, we’ve been exposed to what are basically fundamental God principles.
But from verse 31, things change.
Solomon’s petition starts to get very detailed.
Specifically, he brings 7 requests to the Lord that are near and dear to his heart.
These deal with practical day-to-day matters.
But still firmly grounded in Torah.
Now, I’m about to say something that may offend you.
But if you know me, you know I don’t really give two hoots.
If you go through your life always worrying about what other people think, you’ll never accomplish anything of value in your lifetime.
So you know, the Lord’s Prayer, right?
The one that begins with…
“Our Father who art in heaven…
Hallowed be thy Name…
Blah, blah, blah…”
This prayer was never meant to be something we just mouth mindlessly like some Indian yogi chanting mantras while high on the ganja he had been smoking all day.
Ya feel me here?
Rather, the Lord’s Prayer was meant to be a prayer template that we fill in with the specific concerns and challenges we are facing in our lives right now.
Here’s an example:
“Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Provide enough money so I can pay the rent this September.
And feed my family.
And forgive me for unfairly yelling at my wife yesterday,
and help me forgive her the impulse purchase
she made on our credit card yesterday
And help me not to go on a porno binge today;
but deliver me from these temptations.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.”
See what I mean?
When Yeshua said to “pray like this,” he didn’t mean do it literally, homie!
In fact, Yeshua warned us against mindless babbling.
“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do.
They think their prayers are answered merely
by repeating their words again and again.”
-Matthew 6:7
I don’t know about you, but I find this greatly relieving.
I want a Lord who cares about my specific concerns.
Someone who understands that I had a stroke a couple of years ago and struggle with fatigue from time to time.
Someone who understands my struggles with diabetes.
And my credit card debt.
My sexual insecurities.
The emotional abuse I suffered at the hands of my mother.
Or the fact that she left me with a male babysitter who tried to get me to give him a blowjob one night when I was about 8 years old.
Or whatever issue I’m facing that I’m too embarrassed to share with others.
I wanna bring my SPECIFIC CONCERNS to the Lord and know deep down inside that this supernatural being hears me, empathizes with me, and then will come down from heaven and rescue my rear end.
Ya feeling me here man?!
And that’s your takeaway for today.
If you’ve ever wondered why your prayers are never answered…
Well, maybe consider it’s because you ain’t being specific enough.
Ya feel me?
Forget all of this Christian nonsense like asking others to gather around to join you in some ridiculous “unspoken request.”
An unspoken request ultimately becomes an unfulfilled request.
Heck man, if you think about it, it ain’t no request at all.
There’s no doubt in my mind that what I’ve shared today is as Scripturally grounded as the 10 commandments Moses brought down from Sinai.
Now you may wonder, why do I gotta be specific with my requests to the Lord when He already knows all things?
My answer is I don’t know.
The Lord is sovereign.
Yes, He is omniscient.
He knows all things.
But for His own good reasons…
He wants us to present our fears, concerns, and worries to Him in SPECIFIC terms.
Not in mindless, repeated prayers that have no substance.
Ya feel me here?
Alrighty, the next time we meet…
We’ll start examining Solomon’s SPECIFIC prayer requests that he uttered on behalf of his nation.
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Don’t worry about anything;
on the contrary,
make your requests known to God
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving.
Then God’s shalom, passing all understanding,
will keep your hearts and minds
safe in union with the Messiah Yeshua.”
-Philippians 4:6-7
I think I may have an answer to your question, Rich, about why God wants us to specify our requests in prayer to him when he already knows our heart and mind.
I believe he wants us to be in communication with him, and communication should be two-way.
He wants us to talk with him, even though he rarely talks back. By speaking our needs, desires, and felings, we are expressing ourselves and creating a bond that cannot be created when we go about our daily activities, assuming God knows what is in our heart but never really taking the time to communicate with him, actively.
Prayer is the way we talk with God, and he wants us to talk to him.
If we never made the conscious effort to directly communicate with God through prayer, we would soon forget all about him.
Out of sight is out of mind, and since God is an invisible God, by talking to him (even though we can’t see him), we are strengthening our faith in him.
And when we look for his answers, we will see them.
God always answers prayer: sometimes it is “Yes, right now”; sometimes it is “Yes, but not yet”; other times it is just “Nope- not gonna happen.”; but it always seems to be exactly what we need (not always what we ask for) and exactly when we need it (rarely when we expect it!).
And you are absolutely on-target when you say the Lord’s prayer is a template for all prayer, and we can be certain that when prayer is heartfelt, honest, and humble, God is listening.
Love this, Steven.
This comment is a great complement to this post.
Yes, prayer is how he actively communicate with the Lord and over time build a strong bond with him.
Blessings!
Hey Rich,
I really appreciated this one, especially the very personal way you approached it.
It takes courage to talk openly about some of the things you’ve struggled with. And underneath it all, I think you’ve touched on something genuinely important about prayer: God wants us to talk to him from the heart.
Jesus wasn’t giving his followers a collection of magic words. He was teaching them how to approach his Father.
David certainly prayed that way. Hannah poured out her heart when she was overwhelmed. Jesus himself spoke openly to his Father about his fears and deepest concerns. Philippians 4:6 tells us to present our requests to God, and 1 Peter 5:7 says:
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
So I really like your point about being specific.
Another part of Jesus’ model prayer, I think, makes what you’re saying even more meaningful.
Jesus begins:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Matthew 6:9
That raises an interesting question: What is the Father’s name that Jesus wanted sanctified, or “hallowed”?
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, God identifies himself thousands of times by the personal name יהוה, YHWH, commonly rendered Yahweh or Jehovah.
And Jesus cared deeply about that name. In his prayer on the final night of his earthly life, he said:
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.” John 17:6, NIV
Interestingly, the Greek here literally refers to making God’s name known. Later in that same prayer, Jesus says:
“I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known.” John 17:26, NIV
Again, the underlying Greek specifically speaks of making the Father’s name known.
That makes prayer incredibly personal. We’re talking to the same Father Jesus talked to, the God whose name Jesus wanted his followers to know and honor.
And here’s something I find especially reassuring about your point concerning specific prayers.
Immediately before giving the model prayer, Jesus said:
“Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:8
So Jehovah already knows about the unpaid bill, the temptation, the anger, the fear, the regret, and even the things we’re too embarrassed to tell another human being.
Yet he still invites us to tell him.
Why?
I think that’s where your insight becomes especially beautiful. Prayer isn’t giving God information he doesn’t have. It’s opening our heart to someone who already knows us completely and still wants us to come close to him.
There is one little addition I would make to what you wrote.
Sometimes God’s answer isn’t to remove the problem.
Paul repeatedly asked for his “thorn in the flesh” to be taken away. It wasn’t. Instead, he received the strength he needed to endure it.
And Jesus himself prayed:
“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Mark 14:36
That’s an extraordinary prayer.
Jesus was specific. He told his Father exactly what he wanted.
Then he essentially said:
“But Father, I trust you more than I trust my own judgment about what should happen.”
Maybe that’s the next step in the principle you’re developing here:
Tell Jehovah specifically what hurts. Tell him specifically what you need. Tell him specifically where you’re struggling. Then trust him enough to say, “Whatever your answer is, help me understand it and do your will.”
I think you’re onto something important here.
If you keep following this subject through Jesus’ own prayers, especially John 17, I think you’ll find something even bigger than a better way to pray.
You’ll get an increasingly clear picture of who Jesus was praying to, what his Father’s name meant to him, and the kind of relationship Jesus wanted his followers to have with that same Father.
That’s worth digging into.
Thanks Rich… nice read!
Hey Steven,
Thanks for the warm words.
Your comment is just as touching as you said this post was for you.
Yeah, as you can see, I can get really brutally honest sometimes.
I love this point you made about the Father’s Name:
“Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, God identifies himself thousands of times by the personal name יהוה, YHWH, commonly rendered Yahweh or Jehovah.”
We are instructed many times in the Scripture to pray in the Lord’s Name (and I ain’t talking about “Jesus” if you know what I mean).
Thanks again for your heartfelt feedback. I really appreciate it.