Fellow-Redeemed,
Last Tuesday was the National Day of Prayer President Truman declared in 1952. Today in the old pericope for the church year is Rogate, or prayer Sunday. It began around the fifth century. There are differences, major differences, between the two.
National Prayer Day comes from the secular government that should not be in the prayer business. This day marks no distinction in true prayer Christians offer and the so-called prayers of non-Christians. If you read or heard any of the information last week, you noticed that people of all religions were encouraged to pray as if all religions worshipped and prayed to the same God, which we do not.
Rogate came about as Christians saw the need to use one Sunday to emphasize the need for prayer in times of need. They called upon the Lord to guard and bless their crops and watch over their lives against all calamities. The church established this special day as the time for all believers to unite hearts and voices in supplication to the throne of God. This is true prayer.
The emphasis on prayer comes from Jesus’ words in the gospel for today. Our first lesson also speaks of prayer as God through Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles in Babylon. They were to pray and we are to pray because The LORD Knows His Plans for Us. Since those plans are our hope and future, we pray to him with all our hearts; and, we experience those plans as he releases us from captivity.
The Babylonians had carried many in Israel into captivity. The prophet Jeremiah would send the LORD’s reminder that he still cared about them and had a plan for them even in their exile. The LORD does nothing thoughtlessly or carelessly. He made his plans for his people in eternity and does all things to carry them out for our eternal welfare. The exiles were to know that this deportation would not end his promise of the coming Messiah and his age. We could translate God’s plan to give them “hope and a future” as to give them that “expected end.”
In God’s plans for believers, there is not a single iota of evil or harm. There is only the certainty that our God knows the plans he has made. We fully expect their consummation. We may think of the LORD’s message to them in comparison to his message to us that he is coming again at the end of the age. Our expected end is Christ’s coming again. This fits well with Ascension this Thursday and the angels’ message that we disciples will see Jesus return as the first disciples saw him ascend.
It was this revelation that the LORD’s plan to give them hope and a future, their expected end, that would move the exiles to “call upon me and come and pray to me.” This is our motivation to pray as well. No matter what is going on in my life, when I do not know what is going on or the outcomes, I am blessed in the knowledge that it is the LORD’s plan and it serves his purpose for my eternal life.
We could put it another way. It is the gospel that moves me to prayer. Think of how Jesus called on his Father’s name and prayed earnestly as he carried out the suffering and death that redeemed us from sin, death, and Satan’s power. Jesus did that in light of God’s plan to raise him from the dead and exalt him as ruler over all things. We bear our crosses as his disciples as did the believers in Babylon. In light of God’s plan to give us hope and a future in our Savior from sin, we call on him and pray to him.
The Israelites in Babylon were to use this truth as a weapon against the false gods and idolatry that surrounded them . The LORD was reminding them to call on him and pray to him and trust in him so not to get involved in any of the false religions of Babylon. They lived and moved under his watchful eye and plan, not some false god. Good application here about what is wrong about a national day of prayer. Every day is a day when Christians call on the Lord and pray to him on behalf of our nation and its rulers.
The LORD also indicated that true prayer comes only from the heart. Remember from catechism that we can pray with our lips and hearts. We can pray with just our hearts. We cannot pray only with our lips. The Christian prays in light of God’s plan to give us our expected end, eternal bliss with Jesus in heaven. We do not give our God mere lip service, that is, I have to pray. I will ask God that my will be done. I will demand God explain his answer to my prayer.
On the contrary, the LORD promises, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” What do find when we seek the Lord with all our hearts? We experience those plans as he releases us from captivity.
In direct prophecy, the LORD promised the exiles that he would keep them in faith and deliver them back to Israel. “I will bring you back from captivity.” The LORD would gather the remnant of his church from the heathen nations and return them to Jerusalem. Here the LORD tells exactly what his plan for the future is for them. He carried out the plan under the Persians who conquered the Babylonians.
We often talk about how the Lord does not always reveal the specifics of his plans. Over all we do have the promise that through the means of grace God will preserve us in faith. Jesus Christ has delivered us from the bondage of our natural sinful wills. He has delivered us from the fear of death if not the fear of the dying process. He has released us from obedience to the prince of this world so that we free to serve him in faith and serve one another in love. One day he will deliver our bodies from the captivity of the grave and if still alive when we see him return from the captivity of this mortal body.
In other words, we experience the Lord’s plans every day as he releases us from captivity. God’s plans give us an expected end- certain benevolence, countless blessings, constant benefits. Amen.