In the next couple of blogs I plan to deal with prayer. This first one takes a look at what is probably the most asked question about it:
Have you ever heard someone say, "Why aren't my prayers answered?" Maybe you have heard those words come out of your own mouth, or at least formed them in your mind. Actually, this is a question that bugs most Christ-followers at some time or other. I have learned that God always answers my prayers. Sometimes I don't get the answer I want, but he always answers me. It is when his answer to my prayer is not what I was expecting or hoping for that I am tempted to say he didn't answer it.
It is often said that God answers prayer in three ways: Yes, No, and Wait. But some folks will accept only yeses. They remind us that Bible tells us to ask for anything and it will be done, or all we have to do is ask, seek and knock. I ferverently believe what the Bible says about that. However, if you check those passages out, you will find that somewhere in the context the Bible talks about being in God's will, or asking in his name, or the context assumes the asker is submitted to God's will. The supreme example of this is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on the evening before he was crucified. He asked the Father to find a way, which didn't require the cross, to redeem the world. Then he ended saying, "Yet not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:39 (NIV)
Some people are sure that if they don't get what they want, God hasn't understood their rationale for the answer they want. So they keep repeating it, and "claiming" it. Jesus encouraged us to be persistent in prayer, so, of course, we should. The problem comes when persistence becomes insistence. Subtley the request becomes an order, and the petitioner becomes a demanding boss. This doesn't work because God is the King, and none of us is. We are to submit to him, not he to us. God gave us the right to ask for what we need, and even for what we want, but he does not give us the right to tell him what to do.
Got comments for me? I would love to hear them. I know not everyone agrees with me. So let me hear from me.
Next Time: "God's Answers to Our Prayers"
As I have matured, chronologically and spiritually, I have found your words to be very true in my life. Sometimes, I like to put myself on the receiving end of my prayer, just to see how they sound and am often dismayed with the insistent tone my prayers sometimes take on. I do believe God loves to answer "yes" but I always trust Him and thank him for many "no" answers as well. Cindi
ReplyDeleteI too have prayed and thought my prayer wasn't answered until I prayed for wisdom. Then I realized that God told me "no" but I didn't wait until I received the "no" before I took the problem back from God and did the wrong thing on my own. Does that fall under "Live and Learn?"
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