Before You Even Ask

Matthew 6:7-8, Romans 5:6-8, John 16:13, Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 4:13, 19

So you’ve been praying to God. You’ve talked to him about what’s on your mind, what’s on your heart. You ask him. You ask him again. You pray in the morning. You pray in the middle of the day. You pray in the evening. But you’re still just so stressed. You’re still so worried and you’re still just so anxious.

I’ve been there. And it can happen partly because you’ve prayed and nothing has changed. Or maybe you don’t see how it’s all going to work out, but the sense of still being so stressed and anxious. Actually, there are roots to this that have to do with the way we now naturally relate to God as sinful people in a sinful, broken world.

When you go back to the beginning, to the scene in the garden when you have Adam and Eve and they have the opportunity to trust God to be their source of life, what’s at the core of what breaks everything is this thought that maybe we can’t trust God. Maybe he isn’t actually going to do the good thing for us. Maybe we need to do it our own way. And so, as people born sinful in a broken world, we have this natural sense that maybe God isn’t going to do the good thing. Maybe we can’t trust him. We have to try to do it our own way, which means we got to figure out how this is all going to play out. If we can’t figure it out, then maybe it’s not going to turn out good.

But Jesus says this in Matthew six, verses 7 to 8.

“And when you pray, do not babble like the heathen, since they think that they will be heard because of their many words. However do not be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)

So God already knows what you need. And in the sense then, as Jesus brings it up, is that he knows what you need and as a good father, he’s going to provide. And he knows this, and he has this provision in mind before you even ask him, before you even say that prayer. So what does God know that you need? What is God looking to provide? And where can we find this out?

Actually, if you look throughout the scriptures, God tells us again and again what we need and what he has done and will do to provide. For instance, look at Romans chapter five, verses 6 to 8.

For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

See, before you and I were born, God knew that we would need a Savior. And even when we were his enemies, born into this world, naturally not believing him, walking with him, the reality is, long before we were born, Christ, God himself, became human. The Son of God became human, was born. The man Jesus lived the life you and I were meant to live. Lay down that life and died for your sins and mine to take that justice. He rose again to set us right with God, to give us life forever with God. God knows that that’s what we need. And he provided.

What else has God known that we need? How else has God provided? In John 16:13 Jesus said,

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own, but whatever he hears he will speak. He will also declare to you what is to come. (John 16:13)

He speaks these words to his disciples, but it lets us know that God would provide the Spirit to not only give us faith, but to teach us and help us grow. He knows that we need the Spirit today, and he has promised that Spirit. Ephesians chapter two in verse ten, he says,

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

He knew that we would need things to do. A calling, a purpose, a significance. He had plans for how he would use us in this world, and he has provided those works, those things for us to do. Or think about Philippians 4:13. This is a verse that often gets quoted kind of in the wrong way. This is the verse that says,

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

And this usually gets used by people or often I should say to say, well, I can do anything I set my mind to. That’s not really what it’s about. This verse is in the context of how do I be content? God knows what you and I need to be content, to have enough. And later in that same chapter of Philippians, he says,

And my God will fully supply your every need, according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

Again and again we see Scripture tell us that God knows what we need, and God continually provides.

And so today, bring your needs before him. Ask him for these different things, but don’t stop there. Think about what has God already said he knows that you need. How has God already promised to provide? It may not change things right this moment. You may not see the way he’s going to provide. But how might things change if you shift from just your asking for things to thinking about how has God already answered?