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Why Do We Need To Pray?



And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
                                                                      (Matthew 6:7-13)


If God is all-knowing and good, and if He loves us, then why do we need to pray to ask Him for anything? If He is a provident God, and if all things from Him are part of that providence, why do we ask? Is it some sort of cruel game God plays, requiring that we beg and then flipping a coin to see whether to string us along a little further in hope or to send us crashing to the ground?
 I believe the answer is that we need to ask because it benefits us to ask. It’s not a game. It’s a reflection of reality. God is God. If we were also God, we would have no needs, but because we are not God there are things we need. Asking God for them reminds us of that reality (which is why we tend to hate it.) God saying “No” reminds us of that reality as well. In fact, it could be that God made man particularly needy because that would make it harder for us to pretend that we aren’t needy. In other words, it makes it harder for us to lie to ourselves and to others.
           Another reason I believe that we need to ask God for things is because it gives God a chance to reveal His love more fully. If we were not aware of our need, if every need were supplied without our awareness and sometimes deep experience of that need, we could not appreciate the gift and we would not be aware of the love of the giver. 
          A third reason I believe we need to ask God for things is because it teaches us about how we should love others. If everything just happened for everyone, what motivation, or example, would we have to love others?
          Father, thank You that You are God and we are not. Thank You for giving us needs so that we are kept honest and real. Thank You for using our needs to reveal Your love for us and thank You for using our needs to teach us to love one another. Thank You also that You don’t demand elaborate prayers or ceremonies with our requests, but just an acknowledgement of that need: Hallowed be Your name, give us our daily bread, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us, lead us into temptation, deliver us from evil. So simple, Father. Such a necessary foundation on which to build.   

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