Daily Lectionary: Daniel 6:1-28; Revelation 22:1-21
"It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24)
With these words, the prophet Isaiah is inspired to relate to us how it will be after the Last Day in the new heaven and earth. But this brief verse tells us much more. It reveals to us qualities and actions of our never-changing God, which He possesses even now. For we have a God who answers us after we call upon Him, sometimes while we are still speaking to Him in prayer, and quite often even before we think to ask Him for something!
This is what Luther is getting at when he reminds us in the Catechism that the Kingdom of God comes by itself, “without our prayer;” that the good and gracious will of God is done even “without our prayer;” that God gives daily bread to everyone “without our prayers”. Is Luther dissing prayer by teaching about all that God does without prayer? By no means!
Luther, rather, is reminding us that we have a God who is not our ”beck and call” God. He is not manipulated by prayers, and is free to give His blessings whether we pray for them or not. The Triune God is not a puppet for human beings to try to manipulate, pulling His strings by prayer. Nor is He a divine vending machine in the sky in which we deposit just the right amount of prayers in order to get what we want from Him.
God is a loving Father, who gives you parental blessings as His beloved children, (Matthew 7:11) not because you ask for them a sufficient number of times, or because your requests are sincere enough. Your heavenly Father gives you good gifts because He is God, and God is love, and God loves you! (1John 4) His loving generosity is a Divine quality He possesses, one that cannot be changed by human prayers.
So what good is prayer, then? It’s a God-given response of faithful children who can’t help but pray to such a loving Father. It serves a great purpose of timing: Sometimes God purposefully bestows a blessing soon after we pray for it, so we recognize by faith that He’s the One who gave it. Other times, He gives a good gift while we are still praying, or even before we pray, to remind us of His good and gracious will toward us at all times.
How grateful we are to have a God who doesn’t give us what we deserve, nor limit us to only the blessings we ask for. It was not a group of holy prayer warriors with petitions for Jesus to come and die for mankind which brought about our salvation. No, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). We merited no love from God in our sinfulness, but in Christ Jesus it was shown to us anyway, “without our prayer.”
As in the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18), we are encouraged to always pray and not lose heart. For our God is no unrighteous judge who must be badgered and cajoled into giving an answer. He is a righteous judge who will quickly answer our prayers, even the ones we haven’t yet prayed!