Sixth Sunday after Trinity: The God who is More Ready to Hear than We to Pray

Unedited Transcript Follows:

In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy. Oh man. It was nice to. Hear those words that there's a bomb in Gilead to heal a sin, sick soul, and particularly just to reflect on. If you can't, uh, pray, like, Paul, I was. I was reflecting on those words, given what I'll share with you and talking about prayer today, but?

A bit of a confession. I was up all night Monday night, so my. Refrigerator had stopped Cooling, and so I was all worried about it. Now, I think we just disrupted the airflow inside, so I think it's fine. It did it one more time, so I might be learning that.

That's wrong, but I think everything's just fine. Don't want you doing what I was doing on Monday night during my homily, so don't worry about my refrigerator. It'll be fine. But here's the deal. I was up all night because I was, I was fretting. I was worrying about tomorrow, doing all that Jesus would ask us not to do.

I was running through the fact that I don't feel like I have a money to buy a new fridge. And I was combining that with realizing I don't feel authoritative on diagnosing problems with refrigerators. Uh, and I know it's expensive to invite someone that does know how to diagnose problem with the refrigerators into my home, and I didn't really want to extend that invitation into my home.

Uh, and I was upset. The fridge is only two years old. This shouldn't have stopped cooling, right? And, uh, the last fridge stopped cooling. That's why I had to get rid of it, so I'd walk through all these things, and I spent my time fretting. And you know what you want to know?

What I never did? Is, I never pray. I never talked to God. I didn't utter a singular word to God. About this situation. Why? Why is that? I'm a priest like, I get paid for this.

I think there's a lot of reasons, right? I think the main one is, I still buy into this lie of this Stark divide between the sacred and the secular, you know, if there's a conflict in the church that I'm leading or I'm concerned about the move that's coming? Or even if I'm worried about something more practical, like church finances, I know how to pray about that.

Because it still seems like spiritual ground, right? So I, I know how to pray about those things. When I'm confronted with the refrigerator, though, I have that in another category, and that's in the category of stuff that I need to handle myself. Right, and I have that in my mind that that's in the, you know, wrong category to bring that before the Lord?

And ultimately, I think things like this display. That I don't actually believe the words of the collect, we pray. Did you guys hear what we just said to God? Almighty and Everlasting God. You are always more ready to hear than we to pray. What a word for us! If we believe that, like, what a word for us that God is more ready to hear?

Than we are to pray. See, we continue to walk through ordinary time, right? And ordinary time is ordinary. Sometimes it can get mundane boring, just like life, sometimes right, mundane, boring, ordinary. We walk through just kind of the day-to-day. Of life, right? And we're learning in ordinary time. What it means to just walk through ordinary life as a disciple of Jesus, right?

And I think what today we're invited to? But by the colic that we prayed in the scriptures that we looked at is to look at what prayer life. Of disciples might look like. If we actually believe. That God is more ready to hear than we are to pray. How does our understanding of who God is impact our prayer life?

I think that's what we might consider today for a few moments. Because we see in these pastors today, I think first and foremost as God shows us who he is. Yeah, if we look at that passage in Genesis and man, wasn't that a fascinating passage of scripture, right? With Abraham and God in a conversation.

God being talked down. From 50 to 10 righteous people before he would destroy the city of Sodom, right? What a fascinating passage. But I think it's important an important starting place God initiates. That whole interaction, right? Verses 20 and 21. Is, it starts with God initiating the conversation. He brings it up.

He brings up this situation. He, he bring, I'm going to see if the outcry is as great as it sounds okay. God knows whether the outcry is as great as it sounds, right? God, God knows this. He's inviting. To do exactly what Abraham did, which was intercede, right? He's inviting Abraham's intercession.

He's initiating. And maybe what's particularly fascinating is the end of this passage, verse 33, especially given. So in verse 33, it says, when the Lord finished speaking with Abraham, where what's fascinating about that passage, and that being said, in that way? Was that throughout the rest of the passage, Abraham's the one speaking right, it'll keep saying Abraham is speaking to the Lord.

Abraham spoke and said, Abraham said. I'm going to speak again, Abraham's doing all the talking and God's doing all the responding after that initiation from God. And at the end, we get this reminder from beginning to the end. This was God initiated. God began this. And now, Abraham responds, and he does some active responding, and we'll do plenty talking about that.

But it's so important to get this, right? I'm about to say some things that are often ignored. They're ignored completely about who God is in his relationship with us, precisely because some Christians are so set on getting this right because it's very important. God initiates every aspect of our relationship with him.

He begins. Every bit of interaction you or I have is initiated by God. Every bit of relationship we have with God is initiated by God. You can't even take a breath. Without God's initiation and providential upholding. You don't do all you can do, and then God fills in the gaps.

Right? You don't take care of the refrigerator, your stuff yourself, and God takes care of the other stuff that's more spiritual, right? Like, you don't flex your muscles and try really hard. And then God fills in the gaps. That's not how this story works. God initiates every aspect of our relationship with him.

Every breath we take is God initiated the reason that you don't do all that you can do, and then God fills in the gaps. It's because you can do nothing. Right, so all you can do is nothing. Right. So, so I mean, that might be kind of hard to hear, but it's freeing.

Maybe so, like, you doing. All you can do is you doing nothing? Because that's all you're capable of. God initiates every every bit of our relationship and our interaction with him. And he initiates here as well. With Abraham, right? He initiates. This interaction. He's in charge the whole way.

And yet, God is in a real give and take relationship with his creatures. And and the and the actions of his creatures have a true impact. So, I wrote my, uh, final paper in seminary. On the theme of divine repentance. That's an interesting, uh. So those times that you read in scripture where God changes his mind?

What is going on when God changes his mind? We just read one, you guys. I know you guys are all doing the Daily Office every day, right? So, we just read one of those yesterday if we were doing the daily office, right where it's, I am great. God says, I am grieved, and I am made Saul King.

Believe that I made Saul King. What is going on when God changes his mind? In the scriptures, and this is one of these famous passages with this, where you have this interaction with God and Abraham, where he starts it. If there are 50 righteous people and then he knows he's shot too high and he works his way down to.

What if there are 10 righteous people he gets all the way down there? Interesting thing that God revealed himself is one with that type of interaction with his creatures, right? An interaction. The things that people do have real impact.

Jesus, also in in the past as we read today, gives us a clear relationship between asking and receiving right. He says. Everyone who asks receives? Everyone who asks receives, he says. And then the Epistle of James gives us the inverse, right. Saint James writes, you don't have because you don't ask, right?

That's what Saint James tells us he gives us kind of the inverse of this of this teaching of Jesus? The entire psalter is filled with passages of bold asking. Do you have you ever like when you take time to read the Psalms? Do you realize how they talk to God?

And when they ask for things, have you seen them how they like, even like, sweeten the pot? You have to save my life God because the dust can't praise you. Don't you want to hear me sing your Praises God? Then you have to save my life. So that I can sing your Praises, because if you let me die, the dust can't praise you.

Right. This, and this is just how they talk to God. They're talking to him, like they believe. That their prayers impact things. That there's a real connection between their asking. And whether or not they receive what they're asking.

Certain groups of Christians. Probably they spend more of their time in these passages, explaining how, what the text says isn't what it really says. Then, um, then they. Then they spend actually dealing with why God might reveal himself to us this way. They want to spend more time explaining to us that God didn't really change his mind.

Then they do wanting to explain to us what it might mean that God revealed himself to us as one who changed his mind. Maybe if we want to spend more of our time expecting trying to like rescue our theological system? From God changing his mind, then we do wanting to deal with the fact that God revealed himself as one who will change his mind in response to our prayers.

Maybe we're doing it wrong. Yeah. Maybe just hold on and say, what is God, maybe? Okay, so maybe he's not teaching us? Hey, I learned something that I didn't know before, and so now, I'm changing my mind, okay? But he's teaching us something about how we are to talk to him and how we are to interact with him and how we are to expect that our prayer life impacts what's going on in the world.

He's telling us something. It's not just this big sham and a lie like Abraham really interceded for Sodom, ultimately for lot, but he he really did. Intercede and there really was impact. And it wasn't just like this fake thing that God did. He's inviting us to this type of interaction.

He's inviting us to know him as the God who is more ready to hear than we to pray. If you ever find yourself asking the question? God knows the beginning. From the end, why bother praying? Have you ever asked that, yeah, right? If you find yourself asking that it's a sign?

That you're maybe too interested in your theological system and not interested enough in knowing god as he's taught us to know him. Right? And so we learned that there's a real give and take interaction initiated by God. Yes, from beginning to end, God is the initiator of that relationship, but one where we really do impact things with our prayers.

And we also learned from God in these passages today. God is good that he's gracious that he's Almighty. Our collect begins Us in that right, spot Almighty and everlasting God. He's mighty. But then, Jesus Compares the father to us, Earthly fathers, right? And ultimately, there's a lot that makes us different from our heavenly father, right?

There's a lot that makes Earthly fathers different, I think. First and foremost. It's that we're weak. He's an almighty and everlasting God. Are weak and impotent creatures that are unable to really accomplish anything you know. I, like I, I might have good ideas, and I lack the strength to accomplish them, so I sometimes I'm too weak to give my children what they might need, right?

Sometimes I'm too weak. That. But also Jesus tells us you who are evil. Not only am I weak, but also. I'm evil, I'm sinful. I have sinful desires that cloud my judgments, and that send me in the wrong direction, right? And we're contract, and that's contrasted with the God who's infinitely able.

To do all that is necessary, and he's infinitely good. Any desires. What's best for us? Listen. Do you pray, like, you have a God who's infinitely able to do anything? That we would ask of him in infinitely good and desires good things for you. Do you pray like that?

Abraham seemed to know. And he prayed like that. And ultimately, what we see is God does save lot, right? In response to Abraham's prayers, that's what Abraham was actually concerned for in this interaction is he was concerned for his nephew, and he saves lot. Who wasn't like? All that righteous, right?

Like he was. Put his daughter outside with the mob, right? That was his game plan that was, like, like the most righteous guy. In the area was, like, hey, I'll just send my daughter outside. To this mob. Yeah, that's the most righteous guy in the area. No, it's not like lot was saved because he was, like, so righteous, right?

That's, that's the point. It's because God was graciously responding to Abraham's intercession, right? That's what was going on in this. Is that God was responding? Abraham's intercession, right? So, we see in these passages, a God who is the initiator of every interaction that we have with him. Every bit of our relationship with him.

But who interacts in a real give and take relationship? With his creatures. He's gracious and a lot of our ideas that want to view God as the initiator, which is right. We get so crazy about this to where we're like spending all our time talking about how much God is making me do this right now, and how much I'm doing it.

And what a stupid response to the scriptures. As they've been given to us. God has given us a story of a God who interacts in a real give and take relationship with creatures that make real choices. That's what he's given us. That's what he's shown us, and that's 100 of our interaction in the world.

That's, like, don't you interact with the world as someone who makes choices and those choices impact things. All you siblings. If you don't believe me, go smack your sibling. Right, and see if it if it impacts the world around you. To do that, it does like it impacts the world around you to choose right.

We interact with the world as people who make choices and that those impact every bit of our life experience includes that, and how God revealed himself to interact with us, reflects that he revealed himself that way. So, we have a guy who initiates everything, but he interacts in a real give and take relationship with his creatures.

And he's good and almighty and desires good things for us. So, what should our prayer life look like, if we believe this? If we actually believe this about God? And God shows us what we must do. In light of who he is and how he's revealed himself to, to interact with us and to relate with us.

First, I just look at Abraham. Right? The man who we know are God by the end of the interaction. It's a picture of God to us, right? So, the men turn and walk away. Right, and what's it say? In verse 22, Abraham still stood before the Lord. I'm not going anywhere.

So, you've announced your intention. You're walking away. I'm still here. I'm still standing before the Lord, I'm here, and I'm ready to contend. He just stood. I mean, this is a huge step in what it means to have a prayer life that's active with the Lord to just I'm here, and I'm not leaving.

I'm still contending. I'm I'm going to stand here and contend with you Lord. And what we see is that he just he keeps speaking in verse 23 and verse 27 and verse 30 and verse 31 and verse 32, you have Abraham speaking. You have him over and over, saying, I will speak.

I will speak. I will speak. I will speak once more. I, this is how this is how he's talking to God. He keeps talking. Talking to the Lord? And a huge part of our prayer. Life is to be people that will stand in that space and just continue to contend.

I wanna I think Jesus gave us good instruction here in the beginning of the passage we read today. He, I think it instructive for us, because sometimes we might not know how to just stand in this space and contend. And you know what Jesus gave when his disciples asked?

How do I pray? What did Jesus give them? He gave them. Yeah, the Lord's Prayer gave him a prayer. He didn't say, okay, let me give you a PowerPoint presentation. How to pray 101, you know? Here's your college course. That's not what he gave them. He gave them a prayer.

A prayer when you pray, say. And he taught them how to pray by giving them a prayer. How instructive is that? Especially in a culture that says, hey, the most genuine prayers are the ones I thought of myself, the ones I produced out of my own heart, the ones that I read out of a book.

Those are like those. Those aren't from the heart, right? Hold on Jesus when he taught his disciples. How to pray said, here's a prayer, say, this. That's instructive for us, right? May and and a foundation for, like, liturgical prayer and worship, like. It's why we would say liturgy. It's not less heartfelt because you read it, and sometimes it's learning to train my heart to care about the things God cares about like that, sometimes it's learning to maybe one day.

I'll mean it when I pray for the president, you know, and I'll just, but I'm going to keep trying until I do. You know, I'm gonna keep, I'm gonna keep asking the Lord to change my heart until I'm ready, you know, until the Lord can change my heart? Whatever it is, you know, like, so that that's what liturgy is for right?

And that's what Jesus gives them is a prayer.

Say this. Right? And if we're going to stand before the Lord, sometimes we just need words to say. And. So that we can stay still before the Lord. Say I'm still here. And I'm going to keep talking to you. So, how do you continuously contend with the Lord? How do you create a posture where I'm still day by day, hour by hour, Moment by moment, learning to stand before the Lord?

And to stay there with them.

The other thing I think that God shows us we must do is Jesus tells us to ask. Are we willing to just take him and his word here? Everyone who asks receives? What? And you, you're already coming up with all sorts of objections to that, right, like right. So, take a second, because you're saying, well, what if I ask for a car or what if I, whatever you're coming up with all the objections, just do it?

Take a break. Don't correct Jesus for a minute. Okay, like, don't correct Jesus, because that's what he I didn't say it, he said it, he said. Everyone who asks receives, so take a second, don't don't, um, actually, Jesus. And enter into the space by. What does he mean by that?

What would it mean to have a life that I expect that when I ask the Lord for things that he's ready to give me good gifts? That God is more ready to hear than we are, to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve. Right? What would it look like?

For us to ask for the Lord, and I want us to ask the question today. What blessings are you and I missing out on simply because we haven't asked the Lord for them?

The list might be longer than we realize. Like, we just haven't asked the Lord. We've had that in the refrigerator category, I fix it myself. Right? What are the blessings you and I are missing out on simply because we haven't asked the Lord for them? Because he wants us to ask.

So? If tonight your fridge heated up and you wouldn't be, it wouldn't cool your food. What would you do? Cuz I actually think the response to that might reveal more about what you and I believe about God and about our relationship with him than we might realize. Do you truly believe that you serve a God who is Almighty able to do anything and is more ready to hear than you are to pray?

Do you believe a God in a God who governs the world in such a way that he has real give and take relationships with his creatures? Because he desires those types of relationships with his creatures. Do you agree with him that you miss out on blessings because you don't ask for them?

God invites us to be a people that believe these things about him today. So, will you let your prayer life grow to reflect this belief. Will you stand still before the Lord and contend with him? You ask the Lord to give you the desires of your heart? If you and I will do this, I believe that God will reveal himself to be the god who is more ready to hear than we are to pray.