Prayer Requests

I was searching the Scriptures to find the first prayer of the Bible and this is the one I have found.  There are many others where we are told, the “LORD said” to Adam, Noah, or Abram, but there is only the response of “building an altar on Abram’s part, with no verbal response recorded that I found.

Notice the interchange between the LORD and Abram in Genesis 15-

“After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.   7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. 11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.   12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.   17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”  Genesis 15:1-21 (KJV)

God first came to Abram with a promise, and a “fear not”, then Abram prays concerning an heir, a son; and whether he should appoint his servant as his heir.  God once again promises Abram an heir to receive the land, and all the promises.

When we have a need or a problem; in the way of a question or complaint even; God will hear it, and supply our need, even if it is confirming the original promise.

If this is the first prayer of Scripture why?  Most of what we have read was of God speaking to His servants, many of them listening.  Adam listened after he sinned.  Noah listened when he built the ark, gathered the lumber, and the animals and preached to the people, and Abram listened, but unless I was missing it this is the first prayer where there is a word spoken in request to God.

Why?  If this be so, then we can learn from this for the same reason we have one mouth and two ears.  We should do twice as much listening as we do speaking.  Especially listening to God our LORD.

-Tim A. Blankenship

If you find another request from before this one please let me know.  Write it in the comments section.  Thanks.