Why do Christians pray?

Why do we pray? What’s the point? Jesus prayed, “Father, if You are willing, remove this ^acup from Me; ^byet not My will, but Yours be done.” – Luke 22:42 NASB  He prayed that the Father would make it so He did not have to be crucified.  “If there is any other way, please don’t do this to Me” He prayed. Yet He still went there, and He still had to die a very painful death. This was Jesus for heaven’s sake! The second member of the Trinity, God Himself in human flesh, and His request was denied.

Then we have Moses.  Shortly after God had freed the Israelites from captivity in Egypt He told Moses that He was going to destroy them because even though He had done this great work for them they were rejecting Him. Moses prayed to God and,” …the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.” – Exodus 32:14 NASB

So what’s the difference? In the first example we have the brutal torture and killing of the most innocent man to ever walk the earth. God rejected Jesus’ request, so that He might use the evil that those men intended for good. For the good of saving His people.

 In the second we have an evil people totally rejecting God despite the power He had shown them to free them. He used Moses’ prayer to save His people from His own wrath.

We pray because our prayer might be the thing God uses to change the direction things seem to be headed. But we do so with the knowledge that He is God and His purposes are beyond us. Trusting God is not trusting that He will always answer our prayers. Trust in God is the understanding that no matter what happens, if our prayers are answered or not, He is in control and it serves a purpose. We may not know that purpose, but we trust anyway.