“I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 62:6-7 NKJV ).
The verses before these describe God’s promise that He will restore His people and make them and their city a place of praise. Here He says He has established prayer warriors who will pray for those same promises.
Prayer is a mystery. God makes a promise. Is that not a sure thing? Then why does He ask us to pray for that sure thing to happen? Do our prayers add some kind of extra insurance? Or does the praying simply unite us with Him in the work He is doing?
In the New Testament Jesus tells His disciples that the harvest of souls is ready and they need to pray asking the Lord to send workers into His harvest. In the following chapters, the men who prayed became the workers that they requested!
When I pray for anything that faith tells me God will do, it puts me in a place where my heart is drawn to His interests, His plans. He may not use me to fulfill those plans but it makes sense that He would be more likely to pick workers who are already somewhat involved, at least thinking about the task at hand.
This gives me some new insights into why prayer is important, but also why it is so difficult. Prayer is like standing at the gates of heaven with my work clothes on and asking for a job. However, no matter how much experience I might have in taking on something He asks, every new task is a challenge — I cannot accomplish anything apart from His grace.
Isaiah says not to give God any rest? Never mind whatever else He has in mind, just praying calls for a twenty-four hour day, seven days a week commitment. Hard work. It is eased by the knowledge He hears and answers, yet there is that possibility that He will ask me to be part of the answer.
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