Well, I suppose the first reference to prayer as conversation with God is in the book of Genesis,
In the 2nd chapter we read the following.
It’s not a two way conversation yet, but God does talk directly to Adam.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”
Chapter 3 records this for us.
8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Some say that God made it a kind of habit to visit the garden and talk with Adam and Eve in the evening. After they sinned, Adam and Eve avoided God. That is what v. 8 tells us.
God was looking for them, but they were in hiding. Sin and its consequent guilt and shame makes human beings want to hide.
God made them come out of hiding and ‘fess up to what they had done.
I can think of several points about prayer from these two chapters of the Bible. Let’s see.
1. God speaks to people. A lot has been written about what that means. He generally does not speak in an audible voice. He has other, more ordinary ways and those are what He normally uses. I suppose someone has made a list of those ways. Hebrews 1 gives some.
His clearest word to us is Jesus Christ, His Son.
2. People speak to God. Sometimes people even try to lie to God, or make excuses like Adam and Eve did. People may as well be honest with Him since He knows everything already anyway.
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,[a] whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.
3. People don’t just talk at God, but God talks back. That’s kind of amazing. Again, to best get what God is telling us humans study the life of Jesus - the living Word of God.
So, I suppose these are examples of prayer if prayer is basically having a conversation with God. It’s kind of sobering as well as encouraging. God doesn’t mince words or waste words. Maybe we shouldn’t, either. Speak the truth in love. A person doesn’t have to be mean or merciless. We’re all sinners after all.
Ephesians 4
14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Yeah, it’s pretty obvious.
No comments:
Post a Comment