…but in everything by prayer and supplication ... Phil 4:6
Should we pray to an All-Knowing God? If we’re trying to find our way around anxiety and worries we should.
Many times, the things I’ve wrung my hands over are the needs that are apparent – food, shelter, clothing. And I know my Father will supply, and yet, anxiety still crept in.
What’s the point of asking an all-Knowing, All-Seeing God for things both He and we know are needed? Perhaps the better question is what does that process do for us?
The Lord Jesus Himself taught us to ask God to supply our needs: "Give us this day our daily bread."
For some, that’s a difficult thing to ask. They’d rather bake their own bread. For others it’s a new cause for anxiety: What if I forget to ask? Will God forget to send it to me? Will I be too late? Will someone else have taken my blessing?
For many, the real challenge is in remaining humble enough to consistently ask. And for others, it’s the uncomfortable recognition that they are not in control of their own lives, and are, in fact, consistently in need of an Almighty God for even the simplest of things.
This position places our reliance upon our Father minute by minute. Our flesh hates it, but what does the Word say? “His strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9)
He wants us to pray that we may truly understand our needs, and discern them from our desires.
He wants us to pray that we may clearly see His answers to our prayers, understanding that His answer does meet the need, even if it does not match our desires.
He wants us to pray that we may gain deeper understanding of where our help comes from, and acknowledge Him as our provider. He wants us to pray that we may see ourselves, further understanding our own weaknesses, our mortality and limitations.
He wants us to pray that we may be thankful for the daily demonstration that He is a God who hears. He wants us to pray to relive our anxiety and develop our trust in Him. What better way for Him to prove Himself than to consistently answer prayers of provision?
He wants us to pray that we may cast our burdens upon him, and begin to recognize Him as One who will bear them for us.
He wants us to be anxious for nothing. And he wants us to believe that when we pray, that he hears us, and that “whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1John 5:15
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