Why, Why, Why?

By Jenny Pfister

Have you ever wondered why God answers prayer? Or why He chooses to bless us? We know He is able and that He does answer, but why? Well, the answer is found tucked away in Psalm 67. The psalmist asks of God, “Be gracious to us and bless us, and let your face shine upon us so that…” (See WORD WISDOM for a deeper study of able)

There it is! That little “so that” clauses reveals the highest purpose for blessings and answered prayer. So what is that purpose? He is. God Himself is the purpose. His glory is the reason. The testimony of His gracious love and favor is why He answers prayer.

In verse 2, the psalmist declares that blessings and answered prayer will show the earth His wonderful salvation. It reveals that He is the only God the earth needs…there is no other god besides Him. He alone is the glory. And when He responds to our prayer, the world will see that. Not only is He the only God, but the only Savior.

Not only does the psalmist tell us that is He the only God and the only Savior, He is the only Judge.

Remember, the psalmist asked God to bless him so that people might know His salvation. But then He adds “Bless me” so that people would see that He judges justly and rightly. We may not understand His judgments but our blessed lives stand as a witness to divine justice.

The psalmist concludes with this:

He is the only One worthy to receive our awesome reverence. And by answering our prayers, blessing us, and bestowing upon us His graciousness the world will catch a glimpse of His absolute awesomeness. And we thought answered prayer was all about us! It’s always all about Him.

In our “all about me” society, we can sometimes forget that we are called to be a witness to others…that we are to live for others…that we are to serve others…and if need be, die for others. Is it any wonder then that our faithful God would bless us for the sake of others? That should just bring a smile to our hearts.

< Back to all posts