Dr. Bingham’s Lesson for July 1, 2012

“Why Pray?” – Genesis 3:14-19

In light of the fact that God is sovereign and does whatever He wishes, why pray?
Perhaps you have prayed for something for years and have seen no movement from God. Why should you continue to pray?
If things don’t appear to be going the direction of your prayers, why pray?

Genesis 3:14-19
In Genesis 1 and 2 we see God bringing forth everything into existence, topped off with the creation of man. God has brought everything into existence and provided for the proper functioning of everything in existence; but in chapter 3 everything changes. After man has sinned, the serpent who enticed them to sin is cursed, the woman will experience pain and subjugation, the soil will no longer spring forth with good things to eat, but the man will experience heavy toil in producing his food, and they both shall eventually die. Things are no longer the same. The things of Genesis 1 and 2 are gone forever.

Genesis 2:15
Man did not create the garden in which he was to live; God did and placed the man in the garden to take care of it. But now, instead of merely tending the grounds of the garden, man must toil over the ground and the lives of the man and the woman are to be characterized by pain; for the woman, it is in childbirth; for the man, it is in toiling over the ground.

We are in a predicament and because of that we need to pray. We need to remember that we are in this predicament because God has brought it about because of our sin. God has recompensed us by turning things upside down. Man is no longer ruling over the earth, but the earth is ruling over man.

Jonah 1:17
Jonah is in a predicament. He is experiencing the wrath and judgment of God because he has disobeyed. Although the fish was God’s judgment, it was also God’s mercy in providing safety from the sea.

Jonah 2:1
Here we have Jonah praying to God in his distress and receiving an answer from God. Jonah acknowledges that his predicament was all brought upon him by God. The prophet is under judgment; he lives in a Genesis 3 world. Whether Christian or unbeliever, we are all living in a Genesis 3 world. Even though Jonah is under judgment, being washed over by waves and tangled in sea week, he still has the faith in the midst of toil and pain to cry out to God who will even in the midst of judgment reach down and bless him.

Jonah 2:6-10
The prophet understood that, although his pain and toil was a recompense of judgment from God because of his sin, this did not remove God from a relationship with Jonah of mercy, kindness, and deliverance. Jonah, because he believed God to be not only judge but redeemer, cried out to God for mercy.

We are in a fix. But even in the midst of circumstances caused by God’s judgment on us, we can still call upon God who might bring us deliverance and relief in the midst of His judgment because He is not merely judge but also savior.

So the basic reason we pray is because we are in a fix.

Jeremiah 29:4-14
Jeremiah speaks to those exiled in Babylon. Because of Judea’s unfaithfulness to God, God has exiled them. And there false prophets among them who are saying everything is going to be fine; it’s not as bad as you think; you really shouldn’t consider this as God’s judgment. But God sends Jeremiah to tell them that it is God who has sent them into exile and they should settled down where they are and know that they shall remain for seventy years and, while they wait to return, they should find wives for their sons and give their daughters in marriage and increase in number and pray for the city in which they now find themselves because if the city prospers they will also prosper. God tells them that He has plans for them to prosper and have hope and a future.

Not only should we be praying because we are in a fix, but a second reason we ought to pray is because we need a future that is different from our present. What you have now is not God’s ultimate plan for you. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done.” So even under God’s judgment, we pray for God to be merciful to us in our toil and pain. The apostle Paul tells to pray without ceasing.