Verbal Advantage
Then he will pray to God, and He will accept him, that he may see His face with joy, and He may restore His righteousness to man. Job 33:26
Pray – Something quite unexpected occurs when the Old Testament speaks of praying. The only verb that actually means, “to pray” is this word, athar. It is used less than twenty times in the entire Old Testament. Since there are more than 500 prayers in the Hebrew Bible, this seems quite odd until we realize that the Old Testament has a very different outlook on prayer.
Nevertheless, athar is still important (every word is importantJ). But when we look at athar, we find something else unusual. In its root, athar means, “to cry out with a loud voice for deliverance.” Such cries are always addressed to God. But athar is not used to describe the actual petition. Instead, Hebrew uses a whole host of other words to actually describe what the one who is praying wants. It might be a child (Genesis 25:21) or deliverance (Exodus 8:8), but athar is not used for prayer that focuses attention on the request. Instead, athar focuses attention on the Provider of the hoped-for request. In the Old Testament, athar is the word for praying to God. The actual request is secondary.
Does this make a difference in your prayers? When you come to the Lord, praying, are you focused on the hoped-for result of your prayer? When you pray for healing, does your attention fix on the repaired body? When you pray for financial stability, are you focused on the bank account or the job? When you pray for a spouse or a child, is your mind-eye occupied with a picture of that person? All of that is quite natural – and biblical – but it is not the realm of athar. If we are going to pray according to this infrequent verb, then we will need to remember that God accepts the one who prays with only the Provider in mind. To pray to God means that my prayer is focused on God Himself. I pray to my Sovereign Lord, the Creator, the Sustainer of life, the Alpha and Omega of all history, the compassionate, merciful and gracious King of kings. My God can and will intervene according to His plan, but athar tells me that Who He is, is far more important than what He does. I pray (using athar) in order to seek His face and find favor there. I pray (athar) so that the joy of His countenance turns toward me and He will restore my standing before Him.
Why is athar the only verb for the act of prayer? Perhaps it’s because the true essence of prayer is not about us at all. It’s about God and God alone. Perhaps, when I finally understand prayer, all I really need to know is that God is good.
