Purpose of Prayer

"Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone." Isaiah 37:20

Not long ago, I touched on effectual prayers - coming to the Lord in worship, praying according to His will and trusting in His way. In this passage, Hezekiah is pleading with the Lord to not let Israel be destroyed by the threatening Assyrians.  His brief, but touching prayer, is full of worship and humility, recognizing how wrong his people had been, yet pleading for God to preserve them. I believe the verse above brings forward another important element. The final aspect of his prayer stood out - where he defines the purpose of his prayer, that "the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone." The goal of Hezekiah's prayer request was that God might be glorified.

How often are our prayer simply selfish and to fulfil our own desires, rather than requests that will exalt the Lord. In a recent Bible study, James 4:3 was pointed out - "You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." Finally, someone spoke up and said the very words I had written earlier that day - "Whatever we ask of the Lord, the ultimate goal is that the Father be glorified."