Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. – Psalm 61:1

Today's Scripture Reading (July 11, 2022): Psalm 61

Do you pray? To whom do you address your prayers? And maybe even more importantly, why do you bother? As a Protestant believer, I sometimes wonder about the prayers of my Catholic brothers and sisters directed at Mary or one of the Saints. I had a great conversation with an older Catholic believer many years ago, and she gave me a very good reason to pray to Mary. She told me that she knows the power of a mother's influence over a child. So, while Jesus might not listen to her, he just might listen to his mother, Mary, if she could convince his mom to pick up her plea. It is not bad reasoning, although, if the cause is just, I am not sure that Jesus needs to be convinced by his mother.

Some pray because it is a ritual that is commanded of us. As another believer explained to me, he believed that every aspect of human history and the future had already been written and that it could not be changed. Still, Jesus told us to pray, so we pray because it is commanded, but not because we hope that God will listen to our plea.

Or, maybe, we pray, hoping that God will change us so that we fit into this God-written future. The idea is not that our prayers will change God but that our prayers might change us. God's desires, through our prayers, become our desires.

And some have simply given up on praying. These believers do not expect their prayers to change anything, so why bother. Often, they will say that they will "send good thoughts" toward the problem at hand, maybe because they believe that good thoughts will make as much of a difference in our lives as righteous prayer.

I have admitted that I am a bit of a heretic. And part of my heretic tendencies is that I am not convinced that the future is written. I am not confident that our prayers are powerless in a world that cannot be changed. I believe very strongly that prayer changes things. Healings result because of our prayers. The prayers of the Christian Saints can defeat armies. The future changes because the people of God have decided to pray.

In deference to Catholic brothers and sisters, I don't pray to Mary because I don't believe my brother Jesus needs her encouragement. If my prayer is just, I have faith that God, who Jesus taught us to pray to as "Our Father" or with an even more intimate term, "Daddy," hears our prayers. And he can be moved to change the future.

David has two requests for his God. The first is that God would hear his cries. But maybe even more importantly, that David's spiritual Father would listen to his prayers. God, don't just hear my words; listen to my petition, evaluate my prayers and see if there is any way that you can help me. And it is amazing how often God answers "Yes" to the inquiries of our hearts.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 62