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“These holy conversations Begin in childlike ways. We bring our supplications And words of thanks and praise. With care our Father listens To ev’ry thought expressed, Then answers our petitions In ways He knows are best.”
Our holy conversations with God “begin in childlike ways.” Jesus teaches us that we have the privilege to address God in prayer as “Our Father.” We trust our Heavenly Father, knowing He is eager to hear us and, like children, we can be demanding in our requests. This was Jesus’ lesson in the parable of the persistent widow who pestered a judge with her demands for justice until he finally agreed. Jesus teaches us that we “ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1b). Our holy conversations are humble, trusting, and insistent.
Our loving Father listens to our prayers, but how does He answer the holy conversations we have with Him? Sometimes it is said that God responds with one of three possible answers: Yes, no, or wait. These answers suggest that God may say yes, granting our petition, He may say no and deny our request, or He might make us wait and trust Him for a later answer to that prayer. Yet there is another way to think about God’s loving response to our petitions. He will always answer our prayers according to His gracious will. In the words of our hymn, God “answers our petitions in ways He knows are best.”
We may not always understand or recognize His loving answers. When a Canaanite woman asked Jesus to heal her daughter, the Savior at first refused, saying that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Yet the woman faithfully persisted in her request and Jesus healed her daughter (see Matthew 15:21-28). Concerning the petition of the Canaanite woman, as well as our own prayers, Martin Luther commented that behind the answer we may perceive as “No,” there is a hidden “Yes” imbedded in the heart of God. His love for us is unfailing and He will answer in ways He knows are best.
Our Savior prayed in Gethsemane that the cup of suffering would be removed from Him, yet He also prayed that the Father’s will, not His own, would be done. Behind the Father’s answer of “No” to His beloved Son was the resounding “Yes!” of our salvation. The Father answered Jesus’ prayer according to His will and, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, our salvation was accomplished. When we do not know how to pray as we should or when words fail us, the Holy Spirit helps us and “intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27b). Our Heavenly Father, who sent His Son to redeem us, will answer our prayers in ways He knows are best.
WE PRAY: Heavenly Father, hear my prayers and answer according to Your gracious will. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler. It is based on the hymn, “In Holy Conversation,” which is number 772 in the Lutheran Service Book.
Reflection Questions:
- Is it possible for God to answer our prayers and for us to not recognize it? How could that be?
- What do the two examples above from Luke 18 and Matthew 15 say about determination and persistence in prayer?
- Remember to take comfort in knowing that even when your prayers seem clumsy and weak that the Holy Spirit is present, helping you in your petitions to God.
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