Before they Call

“I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’
To a nation that was not called by My name.
I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in a way that is not good,
According to their own thoughts…

“It shall come to pass
That before they call, I will answer;
And while they are still speaking, I will hear.” Isaiah 65:1-2,24

“Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:8

“While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin.., and presenting my plea before the Lord my God.., while I was in prayer, the man Gabriel… came to me…  He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, ‘O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.’

“He said to me, ‘O Daniel, man greatly loved,.. I have been sent to you… Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.'” Daniel 9:23; 10:11-12

The omniscient God wraps the beginning and end of our prayers in His sovereignty. His knowledge and will are ever-active, existing apart from time, always sure and complete, inextricably bound up in His dealings with His people. What He’s promised has already been accomplished, all He intends to do is completed within His eternal will, sometimes initiated before we pray and sometimes set into motion because of it. Praying is a work of His Spirit in and through us designed to tap into and teach about the vastness of His love and power.

It is good to be reminded of our Lord’s reign over all things. We might view prayer as an earnest expression of a litany of wants, while our Sovereign desires we enter communion with Him to worship and to understand His plans, even see their unfolding. Before we call, He’s not only attuned His ear but performed His benevolent response.

What do we consider before we call on the Lord- a list of what we think we need, or what He’s like? Is our perspective urgent, temporal, or eternal? How have we experienced His ministry while we wandered? When has He met us as we sought Him? How has His prescience surprised us and encouraged deeper, more dependent prayer?

“Here I raise my Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart; O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.” ~Robert Robinson (1758)

Father, align my desires and pleas with Your perfect will, to Your praise.