Prayer of Petition

Today, take notice in Daniel 2:18 when it says, “seek mercy from God.” Seeking mercy comes out of the knowledge of God that we are building up when we read scripture.

“He urged them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.”
- Daniel 2:18

Other translations use the word “plead”, which usually carries connotations that the person to whom you are pleading is unwilling or hard to convince. The Hebrew word for “seek/plead” here means to “ask, desire, make petition, request, seek”. God is not unwilling, nor is he in need of convincing, nor is he able to be manipulated. So, when we petition, we are petitioning for God to provide us with all that we need (according to his mercy) to see his will be done.

“The assumption of biblical prayer is that God's action always precedes my request. The aim is not to get God in on what I think he should be doing. Rather, the aim of prayer is to get us in on what God is doing, become aware of it, join it, and enjoy the fruit of participation.” – Tyler Staton, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools.

See Psalm 18 for example. This whole psalm is dedicated to the testimony of God saving David from the hands of Saul. Amongst his retelling of God’s saving work, David writes this:

This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

David was concerned with God’s way, not his own.

Prayer for today

Lord, you are merciful, you are slow to anger and abounding in love. I thank you, Lord, that you would help me to pray prayers from a knowing that you desire to answer them according to your will. Prayer is not about me convincing you to do what I want, but more about me opening my eyes to see what you are doing.