Why do I need to pray if God already knows?

March 26, 2014: Why do I need to pray if God already knows? Please SHARE this new Precious Prodigal Post: http://bit.ly/1p6xSqD

March 26, 2014: Why do I need to pray if God already knows?

2 Kings 19:16 “Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see…”

When Hezekiah received that second threatening letter from Sennacherib, he didn’t pace the floor and wring his hands. He didn’t moan and complain about how unfair all this was. He didn’t even try to figure out how he could “fix” it. Instead, he immediately took it to the Lord and spread it out before Him. I’d love to tell you that my first reaction to a crisis is exactly that, but I wouldn’t be telling you the truth.

Although I don’t often complain about life being unfair, I make up for that one small positive by overdoing the other two. If I can’t “fix” it, I can certainly worry about it. Fear tends to do that to all of us, doesn’t it?

I find Hezekiah’s prayer very interesting. He asked God to “see and to hear” the arrogance and sin of Sennacherib. I could understand his asking God to do something about it, but you and I know that “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” (Prov 15:3) He doesn’t need me to tell Him anything. So why did Hezekiah tell God about it and ask Him to “see and to hear?” I think there are a couple of reasons for that.

The first is that Hezekiah needed to say it even though God already knew. There’s something very powerful about confronting the thing you fear by saying it out loud to the Someone who can do something about it. I’m not talking about “Name it and Claim it.” I’m talking about taking that burden that is keeping you from sleep, stealing your peace, and ripping your heart to shreds…you know the one I mean…and using your voice to tell the God who loves you about it.

It doesn’t matter whether your words are eloquent or even whether they make sense when said out loud. God knows the intention of our hearts just like He knows the burdens we carry there. And He has promised that when we pray, the Holy Spirit will make intercession for us with “groanings that cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)

I’ve prayed that very way recently when a burden was so heavy and tears flowed so freely that all I could do was pray, “God, please intervene…” But I prayed that with the confidence that He knows the situation and the need and desire of my heart.

Hezekiah’s very first response was to take it to the Lord, and I have to ask myself why it isn’t mine. I shake my head sometimes at my own foolishness in trying to solve what I can never solve, to fix what I can never fix, and to carry what I was never meant to carry. Then when I’m defeated enough or exhausted enough, I finally take it to the Lord. And when I do, I find He’s been waiting all along for me to do just that.

Challenge for Today: What are you carrying that is too heavy for you…that thing you were never meant to carry on your own? Can you, just for today, lay it before the Lord and, even if briefly, let it go?