Your Brother Daniel
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Things that Prayer Cannot Change
There are some things that are unchangeable—things that we simply must accept.
James and John asked Jesus to appoint them as rulers to sit on either side of Him once He came into His “glory.” However, Jesus could not grant this request:
∑ To sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared" (Mark 10:40).
There are many other things that cannot be granted, even in response to our most fervent prayers. For example, the length of our lives has been pre-determined by God:
∑ Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16).
This truth can be very discouraging, especially when the death of young children is involved. Perhaps equally hard to take are miscarriages that God allows, even though intense prayer has been offered. However, the same inspired writer of Psalm 139 actually took comfort in the fact that there are certain things that God has written in stone, His pre-ordained stone. Therefore, he continued from where he left off in v. 16:
∑ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:17)
It is so comforting to know that our Lord has a precise plan for our lives. This knowledge can help to mitigate the worry and the second-guessing we might succumb to at times. “Should I have done this or that or…?”
However, and notwithstanding the reassuring thoughts of Psalm 139, there still seems to be little that can help us to comprehend the loss of an infant. It staggers our understanding, and we grope to find meaning.
Could there possibly be a divine wisdom in the face of such a monumental loss as the death of a baby? Let’s take a look at an episode in the life of Peter for some insight. What kind of sense would it have made to Peter when the Lord informed him that he would die a martyr?
∑ I [Jesus] tell you [Peter] the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!" (John 21:18-19)
Why did Jesus not tell Peter to pray about this?
We must keep in mind: prayer would not have prevailed in this instance. Jesus knew that Peter would not be able to escape martyrdom. His fate was sealed. Peter would be required to glorify God in this manner.
Likewise, the Holy Spirit informed the church at Smyrna that they too would be required to die:
∑ Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).
Once again, there was no admonition to pray. Neither was there any mention of a prayer technique that could reverse this predicted horror. Instead, these martyrs would need to prepare themselves for their pre-ordained fate.
This material is far from easy to grasp. However, I do think that some understanding is possible. In another perplexing verse, Paul writes:
∑ Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church (Colossians 1:24).
Paul, as well as the other Apostles, were required to face afflictions similar to that of their Master. However, this verse should not be understood to suggest that there was anything lacking in Christ’s atonement on the Cross. Instead, it points to the necessity of apostolic martyrdom to advance the church, not atone for it. And because they died the death of martyrs for what they believed, the Apostles were elevated to the status of credible witnesses. This is true as well for the martyrdom of many of the early-church Fathers.
With their deaths, the Apostles and the Fathers showed the world that they had something that was indeed worth dying for. And the blood of these saints was shed, not only for the sake of what might be gained for the future of the faith. But their martyrdom also served as just one more bona fide proof that what the Apostles had recorded in the Scriptures had actually happened!
Therefore, we can see plainly that the martyrdom of Peter would place a seal of truth over everything he ever taught or wrote. In light of the huge repercussions for the advancement of Christendom, could God actually spare Peter from persecution and death?
Once again, some prayers will simply NOT be answered.
Other prayers will not be answered the way we want them to be answered. We are in good company on this one, for we know that there is one prayer of Jesus that did not get answered! He prayed that He would not have to go to the Cross. However, He was also willing to submit to the will of the Father:
∑ "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42).
Clearly, we cannot expect all of our prayers to be answered. If we can learn to take this truth to heart, perhaps we will not beat ourselves up and think that we have failed at prayer.
Once again, to return to what might be the universal conundrum when prayer is discussed: how can we accept the death of an infant? What possible purpose might be served in God’s plan when this adversity occurs?
I cannot answer this with any satisfaction. However, associate professor at Biola University, Clay Jones, offers some suggestions. He and his wife have suffered five miscarriages. As a consequence, they have remained childless. Jones writes:
∑ Many important spiritual lessons are learned from the suffering and/or death of children—courage, patience, compassion, selflessness, humility…we learn that we can never base our ultimate happiness on this world. The American Dream—that we can have our kids grow up, graduate, achieve successful careers, marry great spouses, and have wonderful children—is forever in danger. There is nothing worldly that we can count on, including what a vast majority of people love most—their children. Instead, we must look to God for our ultimate and eternal fulfillment (Christian Research Journal, Volume 38, Number 01, 14).
Although there are still many unanswered questions, I can accept what Jones says because I accept what the Bible says and trust my Lord. Presently, I am tormented by the reports of grave injustices, especially those committed by ISIS and Boko Haram—the slaughter, kidnapping, and sexual abuse of tens of thousands of Christians and other non-Muslims. Although I was raised on the Holocaust—I come from a Jewish background—I can barely conceive of the horrors we hear every day on the news, or that the “civilized” world would once again allow them.
That brings me to my next point. I am not comfortable in this world. It is not my home, and that reality becomes clearer and clearer by the day. I pray for the end of these horrors, but they continue. For my own sanity, I must immerse myself in Scripture and cry out, “Lord Jesus, come quickly!”
I certainly have not abandoned prayer. If I had, I would have purchased an AK-47 and a one-way ticket to Iraq. Instead, I continue to pray, knowing that our only hope is in our Savior Who—strangely—is allowing these horrid abominations to continue.
There is so much that I do not understand. But I do know the Lord, and I know that He is faithful, whether in martyrdom, mayhem, or in my perplexity.
When Abraham was well up in years, God ordered him to offer his promised son Isaac as a burnt offering. This was against everything God had promised his faithful servant. However, Abraham had walked with his God long enough to know that He would provide a way out of that most perplexing situation.
In much the same way, we too are required to walk by faith and not by sight…understanding…or even answered prayer.
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