Pray Because He Cares

“I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.” (Ps 116:1-2 AV)

The promise to commit to a lifetime of prayer is a noble and lofty one.  But it should be one that every child of God should make.  This decision is an especially impressive one because the vow is not made upon reflection of what God will do.  Rather, because the writer has experienced answered prayer in the past, he promises to continue in the future.  This prayer is not based on conditions.  He is not promising to pray for the remainder of his life because he expects the LORD to answer all his prayers in the manner He has in the past.  Rather, because the Creator is faithful, and the psalmist is grateful, there is a declaration of unbroken prayer offered to the LORD for the entire life!  There is something else that we need to notice here.  The writer chooses his words very carefully.  He uses the word ‘…voice…’ and ‘…supplications…’ here rather than prayers, requests, things, etc.  The voice is the emotion or intensity behind what is asked.  Supplication speaks to the earnestness of the request and not necessarily the content of the request.  Notice also the writer loves the LORD because the LORD has heard the voice and supplications of the sinner and not because the LORD gave ear to the content of the request.  In other words, the writer will pray for the remainder of his life, not because the LORD gave him the desire of his heart.  He will pray for the remainder of his life because the LORD hears, appreciates, and values the emotion and earnestness behind the request.  In short, the writer loves the LORD and will pray to him for the remainder of his live because he is convinced the LORD loves him and respects how he feels.

A father who learns to value his child’s emotional state will have a child who is closer than he could ever imagine.  I have three sons.  Each one played some sort of sport.  All three played basketball.  Two played soccer.  One loved baseball.  In different times of their athletic career, there was a great disappointment.  A game that meant a lot to their team came to a crashing end because of some failure on their part.  I was in little league.  I loved playing baseball.  I was the third-string pitcher.  This meant I didn’t have to, nor was I expected to, excel at batting.  My brother and I went out for the same team.  We were not the best, But we were not the worst, either.  It was the first round of playoff games and I hadn’t been inserted in the game.  It was the ninth inning.  According to the rules, all players had to be rotated in for at least one inning.  I was placed in left field.  The position to do the least harm to the team.  We were the home time and had gotten out of the top of the inning with no errors on my part.  But then came the time for the offense.  We were down by many runs and the likelihood of coming back to win the game was near to impossible.  There were two outs.  It was now my turn to bat.  If I can remember back then, there was at least one man on base.  My coach told me it didn’t matter what I did.  Just go out there and have fun.  I was a nervous wreck.  The entire season was on me.  If I struck out of flied out, the season was over.  This is exactly what happened.  I struck out.  Tears flowed down my face.  I was devastated.  My coach knew exactly what to do.  He gathered me up, gave me a long hug, and gathered the team around me to console my strike-out.  In the whole scope of things, that game means nothing.  But the knowledge that my coach cared how much of a failure I felt, did.

We treat our children’s emotions as something akin to silver or gold.  Never ever should a parent belittle a child’s emotions.  If they are misplaced, we can help them work through it.  If they are rash and undisciplined, we can correct them while still affirming how they feel.  But to treat every emotional manifestation as something to be ignored or criticized is to say to that child that he doesn’t matter.  If he is angry without cause, then correction is in order.  Helping him to see why he was in the wrong must acknowledge the anger but correct it.  When a child feels sad or upset because something to us which was minor happened, we cannot discount that to him, it was the end of the world.  God never does this.  He responds to our emotions by acknowledging them.  This is especially true in the matter of prayer.  He cares about how we feel about that which we are petitioning.  He cares that we care.  He cares that we are heartbroken.  He cares that we are anxious.  He cares that we think our world is falling apart.  It is not so much that He might answer to make it all better.  The reason we should pray without ceasing is not for an answer which we hope we be.  Rather, we should pray without ceasing because God cares.