There always will be a mystery as to how God, who is infinite and beyond time and space, and thereby knows past, present and future at once, interacts with us, poor human beings, who are limited by time and space, and do not know the future. God’s foreknowledge interacting with our free will is a mystery. Nevertheless, foreknowledge does not entail predestination; foreknowledge does not predetermine events.
Therefore, we rightly implore God’s help in our daily needs. Our dear Lord instructed us to pray “for our daily bread” when He taught us the Our Father. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “I give you My assurance, whatever you ask the Father, He will give you in My name” (Jn 16:23). Our Lord would not have instructed us to ask or to petition if doing so were pointless.
Also, such prayer affirms our trust in God’s divine providence. God, who loves us beyond our imagining, always will take care of us. St. Paul reminds us, “The Spirit too helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in speech. He who searches hearts knows what the Spirit means, for the Spirit intercedes for the saints as God Himself wills. For we know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His decree” (Rom 8:26-28).
Granted, as poor human beings, limited by this time and space, we will never comprehend God or His ways. Therefore, when we pray, we know that our loving God will hear our prayers. He will answer them in accord with His divine will and what is His true, good
and just. He will answer them with the best answer and in the best time frame. As St. Augustine taught, our prayers do not determine His answer or change it, but instead help us to place our complete trust in Him and accept His answer as the best one for us. After all, we also pray in the Our Father, “Thy will be done.”