Do you realise that puny prayers dishonour God? When we ask only small things of our Heavenly Father our prayers do not glorify Him as they ought. Reading through Psalm 119 with an exellent commentary by Charles Bridges, I came across these words in his comment on verse 17: "We may, indeed, be too bold in our manner of approach to God; but we cannot be too bold in our expectations from him. Standing as we do upon such high and sure ground, it is equally dishonourable to him, and impoverishing to ourselves, to ask only a little of him."
Why is it that we dishonour God by asking only a little of Him? Why are puny prayers an offence to God? It seems to me that there are four main reasons why this is the case:
1) It implies that He is not willing to give
That is, it dishonours God's abundant generosity. In the gospel we see revealed the "riches of his grace...which he lavished upon us" in Christ (Ephesians 1:7-8). Indeed, He has saved a people for Himself precisely in order to "...show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:7). His people, those who've been saved by grace alone through Christ alone, are to bring glory to Him by publically displaying to the universe His abundant generosity. However, when we hold back from pleading with Him to "Deal bountifully"with us (Psalm 119:17), we can imply that we think He's a bit stingy and unwilling to give. Sometimes we can even think that if we ask too much of Him it might annoy Him, therefore we gingerly put little requests before Him and hold back on praying for big blessings. But big prayers don't anger God. No. He's delighted with them, because they show that His people recognise His abundant generosity. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).
2) It implies that He is not able to give
That is, it dishonours His all powerful sovereignty. When God promised Abraham and Sarah a child in their old age, Sarah laughed because it seemed a ridiculous idea that an old barren woman should give birth to a child. However, God replied: "Is anything too hard for the LORD?", Answer: 'No!' (Genesis 18:14). Nothing is too hard for Him. He is the One who has created and sustains all of creation. He is the One who "..does according to him will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?'" (Daniel 4:5). He is the one who alone governs the whole of history, ordaining even evil for good (Genesis 50:20), and in the fullness of time shall unite all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10). Therefore, our prayers are most glorifying to Him when they recognise that we pray to one "...who is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20).
3) It implies that we do not need much from Him
That is, it dishonours His all sufficiency. The whole of reality, everything that exists was made and is upheld by Jesus (John 1:3; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). This means that absolutely everything is completely dependent upon Him, if He was to stop holding everything together for even a split-second nothing would exist. The only reason that my heart is still beating and my lungs still breathing is that He is sustaining me. Jesus told His disciples, "apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5). We would do well to shape our prayers by this. When our prayers are puny they can give off an air of self-sufficiency or anything-other-than God-sufficiency, this is a huge offence to God. Rather, we should come before Him recognising our complete dependence upon Him. We don't need much from Him, we need everything from Him.
4) It implies that we can get what we need from elsewhere
That is, it dishonours His uniquness. This point follows on from the last. All things are from God (Romans 11:36; Colossians Colossians 1:16). If He alone is the source of all things, then it follows that we have nowhere else to look, we have nothing else that we can trust. If we are looking to other things for what we need, and putting our trust in other things, this is idolatory - putting something (or someone) else in the place og God. Instead we must recognise that: "I am God and there is no other...I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other" (Isaiah 45:22; 42:8), and let our prayers reflect this.
Therefore, let us glorify God with big prayers, both in our private and public prayer lives. Now, please don't misunderstand me - by big prayers I don't mean pleading with Him for a mercedes, a mansion and a million. No, by big prayers I mean biblical big prayers; prayers shaped by Scripture. God has promised us big things in Scripture, therefore let us'claim' these promises in Scripture. Let us pray big prayers with a concern for God's glory among the nations - longing to see more and more knees bow to Jesus. May our prayers ever display the riches of the grace of the one who shall supply our every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).
