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Que Sera Sera
Recently, I watched the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much. In this movie, a family vacationing in Morocco accidentally becomes involved in a political assassination plot. There is a scene that is pivotal in moving the film to its’ classic "Hitchcock climax" where the mother actress/singer Doris Day, sings the song Que Sera Sera, (Whatever will be will be) as a ruse to help locate her kidnapped son… It got me thinking about prayer.
Whatever will be, will be. Really? If God already knows what we need before we pray, why should we pray at all? Let me suggest three reasons;
In the first place, our requests to God should not be viewed as the sole value of our prayers. Prayer is not just asking God for our needs, it is a way to develop a deepening relationship with Him.
Secondly, by His will God uses prayer to answer prayer. Asking, "Why pray?" is like asking’ " Why go to work in the morning?" Whatever will be, will be. Then why do anything? Because it is by God’s will that He use both the work that we do and our prayers to accomplish results. Just because God knows tomorrow, does not mean that our tomorrow is fatalistically set. Because we have knowledge that gravity holds an object down, does not cause gravity to hold that object down.
Finally; yes God knows what we need before we pray, but it is in our praying that we submit ourselves, under the authority of our Heavenly Father acknowledging our total dependence on Him. That is why we pray.
Great FOA, Jim! I personally find prayer as a way of deepening my relationship with God because it forces me to focus on Him and His power. I know that if it is God’s will for me to be the best mom to my kids, that is what will happen. But my prayers for that each night help me remember that HE is in control, and most of the things I pray for ARE His will. So I need to do my part to carry that out. Prayer also helps me remember that I need to be humble and approach Him on my knees. These things I pray for are often ‘given’ to me by no real works of my own…how grateful do I need to be, right!
JI Packer has a great little book called “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God” that lands in much the same place: it is precisely our obedience that God ordains as his preferred means of accomplishing his work in our world. We pay him a false honor when we presume upon his priority and remain passive, even silent in our covenant partnership in the care and feeding of creation and each other.
Excellent! Amen! Thank you.
From C.S. Lewis’ “The Efficacy of Prayer” I found as a pamphlet years ago and recently in a book, “The World’s Last Night: And Other Essays” and quoted recently somewhere on the Web:
“Can we believe that God ever really modifies His action in response to the suggestions of men? For infinite wisdom does not need telling what is best, and infinite goodness needs no urging to do it. But neither does God need any of those things that are done by finite agents, whether living or inanimate. He could, if He chose, repair our bodies miraculously without food; or give us food without the aid of farmers, bakers, and butchers, or knowledge without the aid of learned men; or convert the heathen without missionaries. Instead, He allows soils and weather and animals and the muscles, minds, and wills of men to cooperate in the execution of His will.”
For whatever His reason prayer is absolutely essential in our relationship with Him. It is His chosen medium of conveyance.
im
Thanks for the reminder of WHY we pray. Buy the way you are a great example to me in this. Thanks for praying for me.