Ora et labora. Pray and work.

In one sense, this ancient Latin proverb is surely true. Trusting in the Lord does not contradict putting forth responsible effort. Praying and perspiring go together. So we pray for daily bread and put in a day's work.

But there is an ambiguity in this familiar proverb, contained in that little word and. It can easily suggest two distinct "worlds" of experience, two possible "solutions" to our problems, two "spheres" of existence, or two kinds of people, say, the Mary-kind and the Martha-kind. If this ambiguity goes unnoticed for long, the "and" can easily become "or": pray or work.

The phrase "pray and work" doesn't need to be understood this way, of course. Think of "husband and wife" or "parents and children." These are complementary to each other, partners in the identity and activities of marriage and family. So, too, we may view "praying and working" as complementary dimensions of our service to God within the creation.

Incidentally, the Reformers struggled fervently to rescue the church from the "and" becoming "or." Piety, said the Reformers, may never be separated from life lived in the world. That had been the view of the Roman church and medieval society, with its separate classes of people (either clergy or laity), separate occupations (either sacred or secular), even separate spiritualities. By recovering the Bible's teaching of vocatio, or calling (think of "vocation"), the Reformers put piety back in its proper place, namely, as something characterizing the everyday life of believers. Holiness isn't just for monks, but for farmers and mothers too!

Orare est laborare: Prayer as a Good Work⤒🔗

To pray is to work. Praying is working. Prayer is hard work.

In fact, taking a hint from the Heidelberg Catechism, we may say that praying is among those good works which belong to the Christian life. With clear purpose the Catechism treats prayer in the third section, which begins with a question about the need for good works.

Now, for any of our works, including prayer, to be good, it must (1) arise from true faith, (2) proceed according to God's law, and (3) aim at God's glory.

Think about that.

Prayer must arise from true faith. That's easy enough to understand when we ponder Hebrews 11:6: "But without faith it is impossible to please (God), for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." This is not the atheist's faith, the kind that says, "O God, if you exist out there, please answer me." Rather, this is the child's faith, the kind that knows God to be faithful to His Word, the kind of faith that delights in fel­lowship with Father.

Prayer must aim at God's glory. This must be the goal of all our prayers if they are to be biblical. This purpose inclines children to ask Father to do for them not first what they want, but first what He finds necessary and desirable. Because God can be glorified in life and in death, in health and in sickness, in riches and in poverty, God's trusting children carefully frame their prayers with a submissive and obedient spirit.

But to be a good work, prayer must also proceed according to God's law. And that brings us to the theme of this series of articles.

Ethics and Prayer←⤒🔗

When we hear the word "ethics," we usually think of moral actions (lying, stealing, abortion) or moral virtues (humility, contentment, honesty) or moral motives (love, self-denial). At the center of ethics lies the Law of God, the Ten Commandments. But how often do we hear about "the ethics of prayer"?

Yes, there is such a thing. Here are some clear biblical teachings about the morality of our prayers.

"If I regard iniquity in my heart," the psalmist writes, "the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer" (Ps. 66:18-19). Continuing personal sin is an impediment to praying. Proper praying involves the Second Table of the Law, as well. God tells His church through Isaiah, "When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood" (Isa. 1:15).

Much more biblical teaching along these lines could be gathered. But our focus in this series is limited to discussing moral dimensions of the Lord's Prayer.

This connection between ethics and prayer is often ignored in books and talks about prayer. Many modern Christians prefer spontaneous prayer, and therefore they dislike "form prayers." Often this preference arises from the misunderstanding which contrasts the God of the Old Testament as distant, majestic, and unapproachable, with the God of the New Testament as personal, friendly, and loving. This leads to the inference that because we New Testament Christians have the Holy Spirit, our prayers — in contrast to those of Old Testament believers — may be "free" and unfettered expressions of fervor. One tragic result of this folly is that believers tend to pray when they feel like it, which they suppose makes these prayers better than ritual, regularized prayers. Another sad consequence of this view is the denigration — of the Psalms as the church's — and the believer's! prayer book.

All of this relates to what sounds quite strange to modern ears, namely, the fact that God requires thanksgiving from His children! Modern minds imagine gratitude to be a feeling. One either does or does not "feel" grateful. Hence, gratitude is a spontaneous response of sentiment rather than a volitional response proceeding from duty. Perhaps this accounts for the fact that few Christians view prayer as the chief part of thank­fulness which God requires of us!

This is precisely how the Heidelberg  Catechism begins its discussion of the Lord's Prayer. In Lord's Day 45 we hear some rather ethical-sounding questions and answers.

Q. Why is prayer necessary for Christians?

A.  Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness which God requires of us.

Then the Catechism follows with questions like: "What belongs to a prayer which pleases God and is heard by Him?" and "What has God commanded us to ask of Him?"

All this emphasis on prayer as God's requirement means that prayer is fundamentally a matter of obedience. As such, prayer shares all the characteristics of other acts of obedience, and can be evaluated in terms of right and wrong, proper and improper.

Ethical Dimensions of the Lord's Prayer←⤒🔗

In so many ways the Lord's Prayer is our model prayer. Of course, it's not the only prayer we may pray, since God gave us at least 150 other prayers in the Bible as well. But the Lord's Prayer is the standard by which to measure our own prayers.

More than that, the Lord's Prayer teaches us infallibly how to live before the face of God in this world. When we learn to pray aright.

"Thy kingdom come," we will learn at the same time how, among other things, to pray and preach for church growth. Asking God to "Give us this day our daily bread" in the right way requires us, among other things, to reject our culture's ideology of consumerism, to learn contentment, and to quit wasting God's good gifts to us. Praying properly "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" means an end to family feuds and clan conflicts.

During this coming season, as we consider ethical dimensions of the Lord's Prayer, we will be looking carefully at the "how" of God-pleasing prayer. This "how" is what Jesus our Lord had in mind when He taught all His disciples, saying, "In this manner, therefore, pray" (Matt. 6:9). Understood in light of the rest of Scripture's teaching, this also means, "In this manner, therefore, live"!