Amen

My daughter is well into her 20^th month and the words are starting to pour in. Among them is the word “amen,” which she repeats at times after prayer. I was highly amused to hear this word among her firsts. I know of course that her understanding of it is quite limited. To her, “amen” is mostly a word she’s heard enough to mimic – much like “hi dada” and “eat.” I would say however that, unlike these other words and phrases, “amen” is directly associated with our prayers to the LORD. And so for that reason alone, I am glad to hear it among my daughter’s first words. If for nothing else, it means that we are praying for her often.

As a whole, prayer is becoming an increasingly vital part of my life. I go through seasons when I pray more frequently than others. But in practice, prayer ought to be habitual for the Christian. The Bible is not without its exhortations on this point, see: Luke 11:1-13; Luke 18:1-8; Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

I recently heard a sermon by the late James Boice on Ephesians one. Highlighting verse sixteen, he explained that while God is sovereign and orders everything according to His perfect will, He nevertheless accomplishes those purposes through the instrument of prayer. God works through means, and one of those means is the God-honoring prayers of His people. What an astounding truth! The LORD uses the prayers of His own to advance His kingdom and fulfill His will on earth (Matthew 6:9-10). What a great salvation we have!

Convinced of this then, the Christian ought to be encouraged, even compelled, to pray with persistence. In his book, Knowing God, J.I. Packer states: “People who know their God are before anything else people who pray,” and not only this, but “their zeal and energy for God’s glory come to expression…in their prayers.”[1] Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9:1-19 serves as the example for this point. And what an incredible prayer we find there.

The context for it is the Babylonian captivity of Judah. After noting from the Scriptures that the end of their judgment was imminent, Daniel does something that has always astonished me. Rather than celebrating the coming victory, he instead goes before God in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes. His concern is for God’s name, kingdom and will in the promised deliverance of a yet sinful people. Packer explains that while “the prophet understood from the Scriptures that the foretold time of Israel’s captivity was drawing to an end… he [also] realized that the nation’s sin was still such as to provoke God to judgment rather than mercy.”¹ And so he confesses the sins of his people (9:5-6, 9-11, 14 -16); pleas for salvation based solely on God’s righteousness (9:7, 14, 16); and begs for mercy for the sake of God’s own name (9:16-19). This is a rich prayer packed with the gospel and certainly one that reflects the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous that avails much.

I say amen to it. Like Daniel, I understand that the salvation of my daughter belongs solely to God who alone is righteous. Her deliverance from innate sin will be the result of His extended mercy, ultimately for the sake of His own name. And so with great contrition, humility and a burning hope, I will call to Him daily in prayer for her redemption. I say amen to that too … and listen for a little voice to echo it back. 

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[1] Packer, J.I., Knowing God, Monergism Books, pg. 28

The Virgin Sings a Lullaby

“The Virgin sings a lullaby.” I was recently struck by this stanza while listening to the popular Christmas carol What Child is this? The words on their own are straightforward but the truth they pack is anything but! Here we find the virgin birth and the staggering reality of the incarnation. I see a young virgin girl, suddenly the mother of a baby. A baby full of glory. A baby full of grace and full of truth. (John 1:14). A baby who is “the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God” (Nicene Creed). A baby who is in fact the Word made flesh. To this baby, the Virgin sings a lullaby.

And there lies the mystery of what of the J.I. Packer calls the great act of condescension and self-humbling. In the incarnation, the very God of very God is sang a lullaby. What condescension! Imagine a dependent infant, needing to be soothed, and cuddled and rocked to sleep. This is Christ the King “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing.” (Philippians 2:6). A baby without speech, helpless to lie where placed; staring; cooing; fidgeting. What humility! “Our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). The One in which all things were created (Colossians 1:16) became Mary’s baby boy, looking to his young mother for his food, his changing and his care. What obedience to the Father! An obedience that continued from the manger to the cross. “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).

This great act of condescension and self-humbling was from birth to death. The helpless baby grew and lived a sinless life and suffered a humiliating death. And this pleased the Father. “It pleased the LORD to crush him and put him to grief … he was crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement that brought us peace was upon him (Isaiah 53:5-10). He was crushed that I might be raised up. He was made poor that I might be made rich. He took on sin that I might be clothed in His righteousness. He descended that I might ascend one day in him to partake in His exaltation and His glory (Philippians 2:9-11). And this too pleased the Father.

I remember the incarnation and sing. Not songs of lullabies, but songs of adoration to the One who saves. So come let us adore Him ... the Babe, the Son of Mary!