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 feel 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, so on that note…
The next time we meet…
We’ll start examining Solomon’s SPECIFIC prayer requests he said 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
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