PRAYERS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN THEY GO UNANSWERED?

PRAYERS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN THEY GO UNANSWERED?

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Prayers: What does it Mean when they Go Unanswered?

We tend to equate unanswered prayer with failure and fault. Years ago, my wife had been told that her mother died because she hadn’t prayed with enough faith.

We are surrounded with apostles of blame. The popular mystic, Richard Foster, also lays the blame on us, when our prayers aren’t answered:

• Often we assume we are in contact [with God] when we are not…Often people will pray and pray with all the faith in the world, but nothing happens. Naturally, they are not contacting the channel. We begin praying for others by first centering down and listening to the quiet thunder of the Lord of hosts. Attuning ourselves to divine breathings is spiritual work, but without it our praying is vain repetition. Listening to the Lord is the first thing…(Celebration of Disciple, 34)

For Foster and the mystics, unanswered prayer (UP) is the result of failing to use the prescribed mystical techniques. However, the Bible often associates UP with wrong motives:

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• You ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3)

Other sins will also block us from receiving God’s mercy. However, “contacting the channel” is not a matter of clever techniques but of confession:

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• He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)

However, often times we do not receive because what we ask for is not according to God’s plan for our lives – His will:

• I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5:13-15)

Sometimes His will might be a matter of the last thing we’d suspect – death. Jesus informed the faithful church of Smyrna that martyrdom was what God had willed for “some”:

• “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander[a] of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Rev.2:9-10)

Our Lord had informed Peter that he would glorify God in this manner, and no amount of prayer would make a difference:

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• “When you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) (John 21:8-9)

This might sound strange, but, from our present perspective, I am glad that Peter and the Apostles had suffered martyrdom. Martyrdom would serve, better than anything else, to prove that they really believed what they had preached – that Jesus died for our sins and rose again.

Paul wrote that this would also be the way that we too would have to glorify the Lord:

• All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Tim. 3:12)

This is God’s will, and it won’t be changed by prayer. Nor would He answer Paul’s prayer to remove his “thorn in the flesh.” Instead, God had revealed to him that this affliction was necessary to keep Paul humble. We want strength, but God gives us weakness through which to bless us, according to His will (2 Cor. 12:7-10). Prayer will not remove all of our afflictions!

Sometimes, God expects us to wait, even for many years, for our prayers to be answered (Psalm 27:14). Abraham had to wait 25 years to receive the promised son, Isaac. Moses had to wait 40 years for God to recall him to Egypt to fulfill the calling that He had originally put in Moses’ heart – a calling of which Moses had long since despaired. God has His own timing.

Sometimes our prayers are answered, but God strangely refuses to reveal this to us. Abraham had intervened with Yahweh on behalf of Lot and his family, then residing in wicked Sodom. He finally got Yahweh to agree to spare Sodom if there were only 10 righteous people in the city. A done-deal, right? Wrong:

• And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.  And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. (Gen. 19:27-29) 

God had answered Abraham’s prayer, but Scripture gives us no evidence that He had ever made Abraham aware of this fact. Instead, Abraham packed up his tent, left the area, and fell into sin once again in his new country of residence (Gen. 20), perhaps discouraged by his apparent UP. I wonder how many of our own UPs have been mercifully answered without our knowing it.

We have to walk by faith and not by sight! This is my hope for my two deceased parents. Neither of them had given any indication that God had heard my prayers for their salvation. Yet I continue to hope in the unseen grace of our Savior.

Sometimes, we are afraid of praying for the wrong things. However, if we are walking with the Lord, seeking His will, we need not be afraid. Instead, the Holy Spirit makes up for our deficits:

• In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27) 

As long as we do not willfully and unrepentently continue in sin, we are covered. However, Scripture warns us that sin can close the prayer-channels, for example:

• Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7)

Unrepented sin will hinder pray. Meanwhile, our Lord is determined to give us the world (Romans 8:17; 31-32; 1 Cor. 21-22), but in His time! He’s already paid the price.

FACING SHAME, FAILURE, AND DEATH

FACING SHAME, FAILURE, AND DEATH

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A filmmaker had written to a Stoic-advice-column confessing that he was a failure and felt deeply ashamed of himself. Even though most Stoics deny the existence of God, I appreciate many of their values and also their advice, although they can only offer a very limited and human-centered hope.

The Stoic adviser started with a quote from Epictetus, counseling us to concentrate on doing only those things that are within our power to do:

∑       Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing.” (Epictetus,  Enchiridion, 1.1)

This mirrors the advice of the popular and useful “serenity prayer”:

∑       God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.

The Stoic advisor then focused in on the “wisdom” part:

∑       Now, is there something positive you can learn from your experiences so far, and see a way through an alternative, yet similar, career, or perhaps the same one, but adopting a different approach.

Truly, sometimes we can learn some valuable lessons from defeat and shame, and these lessons might lead us in a more fruitful direction. However, without Christ, the burden still rests upon us, and the burdens of life can prove crushing, no matter our abilities and efforts. Therefore, life must be about accepting the good with the bad. Wisely, the Stoic advisor concluded with a quote from Seneca:

∑       No man has ever been so far advanced by Fortune that she did not threaten him as greatly as she had previously indulged him. Do not trust her seeming calm; in a moment the sea is moved to its depths. The very day the ships have made a brave show in the games, they are engulfed. (Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, IV. On the Terrors of Death, 7)

Using this quotation, the advisor concluded with the encouragement to be grateful for what we have, since tragedy is not far away from any of us.

This, of course, is a needful perspective. However, there is another perspective that is even more needful. The prospect of tragedy can consume and overthrow us. Stability and confidence ultimately depends on the reality a greater and eternal perspective to eclipse the inevitable tragedy of decline. Therefore, the Bible reminds us of the example of Jesus:

∑       Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

How can we endure the shame, pain, and our eventual demise? Without the Lord, it is only possible by hardening ourselves, and this comes with its own costs.

Besides, how can we endure the shame of constant failure and feelings of worthlessness? Again, it is only through the assurances of our Lord, who teaches us that our worth is not determined by our performance or even by the worth that society confers upon us. Instead, it comes from an eternal relationship with a Being whose thoughts are the grounds of all worth and reality:

∑       I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

I now see myself through the eyes of my Savior, and I have been set free from so much that had tormented me.

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THE REMEDY FOR JEALOUSY

The Remedy for Jealousy

Read: 1 Samuel 18:5–15
Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 25–27; John 9:1–23

So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. —1 Samuel 18:9 nlt

I gladly agreed to babysit my grandkids while their parents went out for the evening. After hugs, I asked the boys what they did over the weekend. (Both had separate adventures.) Bridger, age three, recounted breathlessly how he got to stay overnight with his aunt and uncle—and he had ice cream and rode a carousel and watched a movie! Next it was five-year-old Samuel’s turn. When asked what he did, he said, “Camping.” “Did you have fun?” I asked. “Not so much,” he answered forlornly.

Samuel experienced the age-old feeling of jealousy. He forgot how much fun he had camping with his dad when he heard his brother excitedly tell about his weekend.

All of us can fall prey to jealousy. King Saul gave in to the green-eyed monster of jealousy when the praise David received exceeded his: “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!” (1 Sam. 18:7 nlt). Saul was outraged and “from that time on . . . kept a jealous eye on David” (v. 9 nlt). He was so incensed he tried to kill David!

The comparison game is foolish and self-destructive. Someone will always have something we don’t or enjoy experiences different from ours. But God has already given us many blessings, including both life on this earth and the promise of eternal life to all who believe. Depending on His help and focusing on Him in thankfulness can help us to overcome jealousy. —Alyson Kieda

Lord, You have given us life and the promise of life eternal if we trust in You as our Savior. For that—and so many other blessings—we give You praise!

The remedy for jealousy is thankfulness to God.

INSIGHT: Why is it hard to see someone—even a friend—getting more attention than us? It happened to Saul. He loved David, but he became insanely jealous when he saw his faithful servant getting more honor than himself. Centuries earlier Cain enviously killed his younger brother Abel. And when Christ lived on earth the religious leaders of Israel became so jealous of Jesus that they demanded His death. But Jesus demonstrated a love that doesn’t envy. This love finds its source in God.  Mart DeHaan

LOOKALIKES

Lookalikes

Read: 2 Corinthians 3:17–4:2
Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 22–24; John 8:28–59

We all . . . are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.—2 Corinthians 3:18

They say we all have one: Doppelgangers some call them. Lookalikes. People unrelated to us who look very much like us.

Mine happens to be a star in the music field. When I attended one of his concerts, I got a lot of double takes from fellow fans during intermission. But alas, I am no James Taylor when it comes to singing and strumming a guitar. We just happen to look alike.

Who do you look like? As you ponder that question, reflect on 2 Corinthians 3:18, where Paul tells us that we “are being transformed into [the Lord’s] image.” As we seek to honor Jesus with our lives, one of our goals is to take on His image. Of course, this doesn’t mean we have to grow a beard and wear sandals—it means that the Holy Spirit helps us demonstrate Christlike characteristics in how we live. For example, in attitude (humility), in character (loving), and in compassion (coming alongside the down and out), we are to look like Jesus and imitate Him.

As we “contemplate the Lord’s glory,” by fixing our eyes on Jesus, we can grow more and more like Him. What an amazing thing it would be if people could observe us and say, “I see Jesus in you”! —Dave Branon

Lord, help us to gaze on You, to study You, to know You. Transform us into Your image by what we say, how we love others, and how we worship You. May others see Jesus in us.

Love is the family resemblance the world should see in followers of Christ.

INSIGHT: After having communed with God for some eighty days and nights (Ex. 24:18; 34:28), Moses’s face shone, reflecting and radiating the holiness and glory of God (34:29-35). When he came down from Mt. Sinai with the law, the people were afraid to come near him. Thereafter, Moses wore a veil over his face, seemingly to protect the Israelites from prolonged exposure to God’s glorious holiness.Thousands of years later, the apostle Paul adds that Moses veiled himself to prevent the Israelites from seeing that this glory was fading away (2 Cor. 3:13). Using Moses’s experience, Paul reminds us of the great privilege Christians have today. Just as Moses was able to enter God’s holy presence without the veil (Ex. 34:34-35), anyone who believes in Jesus also has this privilege (2 Cor. 3:14, 16). The Holy Spirit gives us unencumbered and unrestricted access into God’s holy presence (v. 17) and will enable us to “see and reflect the glory of the Lord, [making] us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (v. 18 nlt).

In what ways are you like your heavenly Father? How is exposure to God’s holiness through His Word changing you to look more like Christ?   Sim Kay Tee

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DID THE ANCIENT ISRAELITES BELIEVE IN THE TRINITY?

DID THE ANCIENT ISRAELITES BELIEVE IN THE TRINITY?

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I think so; at least they believed in the multiple Persons of the Godhead, if not the Three. There is so much evidence of this, especially in the Torah. For the sake of brevity, I will just confine this discussion to the Book of Judges.

Each appearance of the Angel of the Lord indicates that He is actually God and not a mere angel (also translated as “messenger”). Evidently, Israel understood that this Angel was the One who had led them out of Egypt:

∑       The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Judges 2:1-2)

Israel also understood that it was the Angel who had made the covenant with them at Sinai and that they had disobeyed this Angel. (There are no capitalizations in the ancient Greek and Hebrew. Instead, the caps are supplied by the translators.)  Meanwhile, the original account indicates that the LORD (“Yahweh”) had manifested Himself there:

∑       The LORD [“Yahweh” in Hebrew] descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up and the LORD said to him, "Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the LORD and many of them perish. Even the priests, who approach the LORD, must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them." (Exodus 19:20-22)

Perhaps, then, Yahweh and the Angel are synonymous. In fact, it seems that the Jews themselves acknowledged that Moses had received the Law from an angel. Stephen, the first Christian Martyr, spoke these words to the Pharisees before they stoned him to death, and they evidently were in agreement with Stephen’s retelling of their history:

∑       This [Moses] is the one [who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. (Acts 7:38)

Stephen had been building a case against them, citing history where both parties would agree about.

Therefore, it seems that the Pharisees also agreed that, although the Exodus account claims that Moses had met with Yahweh, it was actually the angel with whom Moses had met, with whom he spoke as his countenance was being radiantly transformed.

GIDEON

The Angel of the Lord then appeared to Gideon after the Israelites had been terribly oppressed by the Midianites for seven years:

∑       And the angel of the LORD appeared to him… And the LORD [“Yahweh”] turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he [Gideon] said to him, “Please, Lord [“Adonai”], how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” (Judges 6:12, 14-16)

Notice that the “Angel of the Lord” is used interchangeably with the “LORD” [“Yahweh”], suggesting that these names, once again, denote the same Person. However, the rabbis cannot allow this equation to stand. Rabbi Gerald Sigal claims that “the angel is always an impersonal being.” How then is He equated with Yahweh? Sigal explains:

∑       The angels that appeared to various biblical personalities were acting only as messengers being God’s word. That the words of a messenger of God may be attributed directly to God is evident from Isaiah 7:10, which reads: “And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz” [through Isaiah]. (The Jew and the Christian Missionary, 133)

While God did speak to King Ahaz through the Prophet Isaiah, the appearance to Gideon is very different. First, it is the “angel of the LORD” and not a prophet who had appeared to Gideon. Second, Yahweh was actually present – “And the LORD [“Yahweh”] turned to him.” Thirdly, as we shall see, Gideon thought he would die because he had seen the LORD Yahweh in the Person of the Angel of the Lord.

However, at this point, it doesn’t seem that Gideon was yet aware of the identity of his visitor, since he called Him “adonai,” (not Yahweh) a term that can mean “master” or “lord”:

∑       Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” (Judges 6:22-23)

Evidently, Gideon had thought we would die, having seen the “angel of the LORD,” who he then addressed as “GOD.” But why? Gideon already knew that He was a messenger from the Lord. However, it is evident, after he had seen his miracle, that now he knew that this Angel [or “messenger”] was Yahweh Himself, as the narrative had all along indicated.

This account is reminiscent of Jacob wrestling with the angel whom he later realizes to be God:

∑       So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” (Genesis 32:30)

It also reminds us of the account in which Moses approached the burning bush to be encountered by the Angel of the LORD who is also called “Yahweh”:

∑       And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush… When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush… “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:2-5)

It was “holy ground” not because of the presence of a messenger but because of the presence of Yahweh.

SAMSON

The Angel of the Lord had appeared to Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson, and promised them a child. However, they did not realize that He was the angel of the Lord. However, when He ascended with the flames of their offering, they realized His true identity:

∑       The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” (Judges 13:21-22)

The Hebrews realized that this Messenger of God was actually God Himself, but how could a Messenger from God also be God? Only if God is more than One Person!

This is a lesson for us Christians. The New Testament didn’t invent any doctrines. Instead, the Spirit had illuminated to the Apostles what was already cryptically revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures but with greater clarity:

∑       When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. (Ephesians 3:4-5)

There is another lesson that we should not miss. We often ask for a divine encounter. However, for the unredeemed, an encounter with God is a terrifying encounter. For the redeemed, it might be an unnecessary encounter. Rather, we are told to walk by faith and not be sight.

Why then did the Angel appear to the Israelites? It was only in the midst of their dire need. In each of the three cases cited above, Israel was being sorely oppressed and needed deliverance.

DID JOSHUA BELIEVE THAT GOD COULD APPEAR TO HIM IN HUMAN FORM?

He did! Before the battle for Jericho, a “man” appeared to Joshua, who became convinced that this man was actually God:

∑       …And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. Joshua 5:14-15 (ESV)

Israelites knew that they were only to worship God (Exodus 20:2-4). Nevertheless, Joshua “worshiped” this man. Did the man correct him? No! He affirmed Joshua’s worship, telling him to “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”

Even the narrative indicates that “the LORD” (Yahweh) had been speaking to Joshua:

∑       And the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. (Joshua 6:2)

CONCLUSION: Joshua knew that the Lord had appeared to him in human form!

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DEFENDING GOD

Defending God

Read: Luke 9:51–56
Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 19–21; John 8:1–27

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.—Proverbs 15:1

The anti-God bumper stickers covering the car seized the attention of a university professor. As a former atheist himself, the professor thought perhaps the owner wanted to make believers angry. “The anger helps the atheist to justify his atheism,” he explained. Then he warned, “All too often, the atheist gets exactly what he is looking for.”

In recalling his own journey to faith, this professor noted the concern of a Christian friend who invited him to consider the truth of Christ. His friend’s “sense of urgency was conveyed without a trace of anger.” He never forgot the genuine respect and grace he received that day.

Believers in Jesus often take offense when others reject Him. But how does He feel about that rejection? Jesus constantly faced threats and hatred, yet He never took doubt about His deity personally. Once, when a village refused Him hospitality, James and John wanted instant retaliation. “Lord,” they asked, “do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” (Luke 9:54). Jesus didn’t want that, and He “turned and rebuked them” (v. 55). After all, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).

It may surprise us to consider that God doesn’t need us to defend Him. He wants us to represent Him! That takes time, work, restraint, and love. —Tim Gustafson

Lord, when we are confronted with hate, help us not to be haters but to respond as Your Son did: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

The best way to defend Jesus is to live like Him.

INSIGHT: Luke 9:51 says, “Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Christ was deliberately going to Jerusalem to face even more opposition because of His commitment to die on the cross for our redemption. When James and John rightly perceived opposition to their Master, they wrongly responded with an attitude of vindictive punishment. Most likely they were thinking of Elijah calling down fire from heaven (2 Kings 1:10-12) and the fire that fell in judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19). Yet they missed the point that Jesus’s truth claims are submitted for human consideration without coercion or duress.As one theologian wisely said: “God is a Gentleman and will not violate our own free will.” The time of judgment that is most certainly coming has its own set time in God’s calendar. Before it arrives, each human being who hears the gospel has the freedom to believe it or reject it. God is “patient with [us],” the apostle Peter wrote, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

How might you show grace and faithfulness in letting your gospel light shine today regardless of the response? Dennis Fisher

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BLINK AND THINK OF GOD

Blink and Think of God

Read: Deuteronomy 32:1–12
Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 16–18; John 7:28–53

He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye.—Deuteronomy 32:10

“God is like an eyelid,” my friend Ryley said, and I blinked in surprise. What could she mean by that?

“Tell me more,” I replied. Together, we had been studying surprising pictures of God in the Bible, things like God as a laboring mother (Isa. 42:14) or as a beekeeper (7:18), but this one was new to me. Ryley pointed me to Deuteronomy 32, where Moses praises the way God takes care of His people. Verse 10 says that God shields and protects His people, guarding them “as the apple of his eye.”

But the word we translate apple, Ryley told me, literally means pupil. And what encircles and guards the pupil? The eyelid, of course! God is like the eyelid, which instinctively protects the tender eye. The eyelid guards the eye from danger, and by blinking helps remove dirt or dust. It keeps sweat out of the eye. It lubricates the eyeball, keeping it healthy. It closes, allowing rest.

As I considered the picture of God as an eyelid, I couldn’t help but thank God for the many metaphors He’s given us to help us understand His love for us. When we close our eyes at night and open them in the morning, we can think of God, and praise Him for His tender protection and care for us. —Amy Peterson

Thank You, God, for using surprising metaphors to help us understand You better. Thanks for guarding us just as the eyelid guards the eye.

When you blink, remember to thank God for His protection.

INSIGHT: Jesus Himself verifies the truth of God’s protection when He tells us not to worry about our lives: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. . . . You are worth more than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 12:1-6).

In what situation do you need to remember that God protects and provides? How can you remind yourself and others of our worth in God’s eyes?   J.R. Hudberg

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