Prayer is a response, always. While we often think of praying as our reaching out to God, in truth, we can cry out to God, complain to God, and commune with God only because He has spoken first, because He has acted first. That’s the way our scriptures tell the story anyway. God speaking, breathing us into life with Him, and, even when we’d trade that life for something less, continuing to act in our favor, make a way for us to communion with Him still.

It is because prayer is a response to God’s Word and work, that we can pray with the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14) as we consider what God has done to ensure we can respond to Him. So, as you pray the short and simple words alongside your sisters and brothers in Jesus today, remember, as we learned Sunday, from where you pray them…at the atoning sacrifice, which is the cross of Christ.

“God, make atonement for me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)