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1 Kings 8:59 "Let these words of mine, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires".

 

What a beautiful prayer! When I first read it, I did not know who was speaking, but I should have guessed that it was Solomon, given how perfectly it is stated. And this is just one line in a blessing given to the people after Solomon's lengthy prayer upon the installation of the ark of the covenant in the newly completed Temple. It's worth reading Solomon's whole prayer at 1 Kings 8:12-61.

 

Solomon asks that his words remain near to the Lord day and night. That made me think of how we have Jesus as our intercessor with the Father, along with Mary and all the angels and saints. Our prayers are always before the Lord, both because He is our Father who loves and listens to us, and because we have so many people, including His only begotten Son, repeating them to Him always. Although they may not be answered exactly when or in the way we ask, our prayers are never unheard nor forgotten.

 

Solomon also asks God to maintain His people's cause "as each day requires." This gets to how and when God answers our prayers. Our cause is His cause, He wants nothing but our good. So while our prayers are always near Him, He answers them in the way that is best for all of us "as each day requires". We do not know what each day will bring, nor how something we think so vitally necessary to our good now might be better, or maybe even not needed, in time, but God does. He knows exactly what we need and when we need it, and He will give us all we need as each day requires.

 

Yet God still loves hearing from us, even when our prayers are not being answered right away, and even if they are not as eloquent as Solomon's. Every time we pray, we come closer to God and become better able to hear and understand His answers to our prayers. We become better able to understand that He is always giving us "this day our daily bread", in every sense of those words.