When we pray we participate in an activity that is
ancient and contemporary, natural and learned, instinctive and counter
intuitive.
I don’t know what it was about Abram’s life that led him
to think that it was good to build an altar and call on the name of the Lord, but
that he was moved to do so is evident in the text. It seems that God designed us
to worship Him. Part of our makeup leads us to call out to God. In our sin we
place our worship in other things – pleasure, intellect, science, spirits, etc.
We worship created things in the place of the Creator as it says in Romans 1.
Sometimes today people even call on God’s name without knowing Him. A lyric is
a recent pop song states, “I just prayed to a god I don’t believe in.”
We see in the Bible that prayer – talking to God – is an
ancient practice. The saints long ago, all the way back to the beginning,
called on God’s name, spoke to Him, worshiped Him, and asked of Him. They
probably prayed about things that aren’t on our daily prayer lists, but there
were likely great similarities, too: protection for our families, to have a
baby, for sick loved ones, and the like. They also praised God in prayer and
rejoiced in His creation, forgiveness, mercy, and love. Our contemporary
prayers can gain much by imitating their ancient ones.
Prayer is natural. At least it is natural in that people
seem to do it all over the world and in every culture. It is simply the
response to God speaking to us – which He does in a variety of ways in
creation, giving evidence of His power, glory, judgment, providence, and mercy,
but does primarily and most reliably through His Word. To that point, prayer is
learned. We learn from God’s Word that He invites us to pray, calling upon His
name. Not only that we can make altars – which are places of worship, and not
bloodletting and atonement since Christ was crucified for us. The Lord’s Prayer
gives us vocabulary and priorities for prayer – God’s priorities – as we pray in
Christ.
And here is where prayer is counter intuitive. We think
our needs are the main focus of prayer. We are invited to pray about these
things, but now we can prioritize prayers for people to know God, enter His
kingdom, and be saved from sin so that they too may call on His name and
worship.
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