Chapter 12: Praying with Please and Thank You
King Hezekiah, the thirteenth king of Judah, was king when Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, reminding him of his ruthless, barbaric, unyielding tactics. He suggested that Hezekiah spare his people by making peace, joining him in his conquests, partaking of his spoils, or else he would do to Judah what his mighty war machine had done to other nations. He basically said: “No God can protect you from us. The Gods of the other countries we have conquered didn’t save them” (See 2 Kings 18:28-35).
What did Hezekiah do? After he read the letter, “Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it (the letter) before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying…. Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God” (Isaiah 37:14-17).
After King Hezekiah’s temple prayer, the Lord sent the living prophet, Isaiah, to Hezekiah and prophesied to him the word of the Lord: “For I will defend this city…. Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand (185,000): and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed” (Isaiah 37:35-37). (Verse 38 contains the gory fact that Sennacherib went to Nineveh where he was killed by assassins.)
Another scriptural example of what to do when something bad happens is when because of great wickedness, the Lord confounded the languages of the people at the time of the Tower of Babel. This disruption of language caused great confusion and scattered the people. Jared and his brother did not want this to happen to their family and friends.
What did Jared do? He said to his brother: “Cry unto the Lord, that he will not confound us that we may not understand our words…. And the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon their friends and their families also, that they were not confounded” (Ether 1:33-37).
From those two examples we know two good ways to respond when bad things happen. We can take our problems to the Lord in the temple. We can listen to the words of our living prophet, but you already know all that.
Alcoholics and others with addictions who attend Alcoholics Anonymous or a twelve-step addiction recovery program are taught a principle vital to dealing with life’s unpredictability: Since you never know when something bad is going to happen, how can you prepare? The principle taught is to stand in readiness for whatever comes. You can’t wait until the war is in process to put on your armor. With our two examples, you stand in readiness by praying and attending the temple regularly. C. S. Lewis said: “It is a poor thing to come to God as a last resort” or to use God as a parachute, only there for emergencies (The Problem of Pain, 85-86).
The Alcoholics Anonymous book, page 83, teaches addicts that they will have a better response to surprise situations “so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition. It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. “How can I best serve Thee—Thy will (not mine) be done.’’ These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.
In King Hezekiah’s case, he was fit spiritually. His preparation had conditioned him for such a time. He knew the temple was where he could spread out Sennacherib’s letter and ask the Lord to intervene. Likewise, the brother of Jared knew his brother was no stranger to the Lord and that the Lord would have compassion on his request.
One more aspect about approaching God regularly comes from Dr. Danny Ben-Gigi who shows the Hebrew meanings of different religious words that can deepen and clarify our English understanding.
Of interest is the word “hosanna,” which the Bible Dictionary defines as “God save.” Dr. Ben-Gigi explains that in Hebrew, the “na,” on the end of “hosanna” adds the word “please,” or “God save [us] please. He says that adding please to our petitions is “a measure of courtesy.” Prayer is an act of approaching “the throne of grace” and we do so hoping to “obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Dr. Ben-Gigi says that “please” was deleted from our current New Testament 174 times. (See God's Secrets only Hebrew Can Reveal, 7.) (Today in our scriptures “please” is found 46 times and not one of them is associated with prayer.) When I learned of “please” being removed from the original, my thoughts turned to the Lord’s Prayer. Every time I read or hear the words, "Give us this day our daily bread… forgive us our debts… deliver us from evil,” I want to add please before each request or a thank you. "Thank you for our daily bread." "Thank you for forgiving our debts." "Thank you for delivering us from evil."
Hopefully, when bad things happen to you, if enemies are threatening, if you are surrounded by unrighteousness, I hope your previous experiences in prayer will have prepared you to lay your situation before your Father in Heaven. When I am in this state of mind, I hope I address God our Eternal Father with courtesy, love, and respect, never with an air of entitlement. As King Benjamin said: “If I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King” (Mosiah 2:19)!
(C) Marilynne Todd Linford
What did Hezekiah do? After he read the letter, “Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it (the letter) before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying…. Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God” (Isaiah 37:14-17).
After King Hezekiah’s temple prayer, the Lord sent the living prophet, Isaiah, to Hezekiah and prophesied to him the word of the Lord: “For I will defend this city…. Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand (185,000): and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed” (Isaiah 37:35-37). (Verse 38 contains the gory fact that Sennacherib went to Nineveh where he was killed by assassins.)
Another scriptural example of what to do when something bad happens is when because of great wickedness, the Lord confounded the languages of the people at the time of the Tower of Babel. This disruption of language caused great confusion and scattered the people. Jared and his brother did not want this to happen to their family and friends.
What did Jared do? He said to his brother: “Cry unto the Lord, that he will not confound us that we may not understand our words…. And the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon their friends and their families also, that they were not confounded” (Ether 1:33-37).
From those two examples we know two good ways to respond when bad things happen. We can take our problems to the Lord in the temple. We can listen to the words of our living prophet, but you already know all that.
Alcoholics and others with addictions who attend Alcoholics Anonymous or a twelve-step addiction recovery program are taught a principle vital to dealing with life’s unpredictability: Since you never know when something bad is going to happen, how can you prepare? The principle taught is to stand in readiness for whatever comes. You can’t wait until the war is in process to put on your armor. With our two examples, you stand in readiness by praying and attending the temple regularly. C. S. Lewis said: “It is a poor thing to come to God as a last resort” or to use God as a parachute, only there for emergencies (The Problem of Pain, 85-86).
The Alcoholics Anonymous book, page 83, teaches addicts that they will have a better response to surprise situations “so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition. It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. “How can I best serve Thee—Thy will (not mine) be done.’’ These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.
In King Hezekiah’s case, he was fit spiritually. His preparation had conditioned him for such a time. He knew the temple was where he could spread out Sennacherib’s letter and ask the Lord to intervene. Likewise, the brother of Jared knew his brother was no stranger to the Lord and that the Lord would have compassion on his request.
One more aspect about approaching God regularly comes from Dr. Danny Ben-Gigi who shows the Hebrew meanings of different religious words that can deepen and clarify our English understanding.
Of interest is the word “hosanna,” which the Bible Dictionary defines as “God save.” Dr. Ben-Gigi explains that in Hebrew, the “na,” on the end of “hosanna” adds the word “please,” or “God save [us] please. He says that adding please to our petitions is “a measure of courtesy.” Prayer is an act of approaching “the throne of grace” and we do so hoping to “obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Dr. Ben-Gigi says that “please” was deleted from our current New Testament 174 times. (See God's Secrets only Hebrew Can Reveal, 7.) (Today in our scriptures “please” is found 46 times and not one of them is associated with prayer.) When I learned of “please” being removed from the original, my thoughts turned to the Lord’s Prayer. Every time I read or hear the words, "Give us this day our daily bread… forgive us our debts… deliver us from evil,” I want to add please before each request or a thank you. "Thank you for our daily bread." "Thank you for forgiving our debts." "Thank you for delivering us from evil."
Hopefully, when bad things happen to you, if enemies are threatening, if you are surrounded by unrighteousness, I hope your previous experiences in prayer will have prepared you to lay your situation before your Father in Heaven. When I am in this state of mind, I hope I address God our Eternal Father with courtesy, love, and respect, never with an air of entitlement. As King Benjamin said: “If I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King” (Mosiah 2:19)!
(C) Marilynne Todd Linford
Comments
Post a Comment