Day: October 5, 2017

Why Do Some Prayers Go Unanswered?

Friday, October 6, 2017

Matt 7-7

Before I even begin to try to answer this beast of a question, I want to say that it’s a question that is still tough for me, and you may find my answer completely inadequate. That’s fine. I just want to share some of my thoughts on the matter.

First, I want to go slightly off topic and talk about hearing the voice of God. Some people have the opinion that there are far fewer people in the world today that God chooses to reveal himself to than there were in the times of the Bible. However, I believe that even in the times of the Bible, God rarely let anyone hear his voice. The Bible has stories of a few select people to whom God chose to speak directly, people like Moses, Samuel and the other prophets and Jesus. This is only a handful of people and I don’t think it is any surprise that the vast majority of us will live our whole earthly lives without ever actually hearing God’s voice. There is no verse in the Bible that says that God will stop speaking to man, so I see no reason to exclude that possibility, but I think it is highly unlikely to happen to any one of us.

Now when we pray for something and that prayer goes unanswered, that can be hard to deal with. We can feel hurt and betrayed when we are praying for something particularly important, like the health of a loved one. When this kind of prayer goes unanswered, how do we reconcile that with 1 John 5:14? That verse says that if we ask God anything according to His will, that he will hear us. Does this mean that when we pray for healing and that prayer isn’t granted that for someone to stay unhealthy is God’s will? I actually don’t believe that. In fact, I believe very strongly that God desires with all his heart for us to live long, healthy and fruitful lives (Deuteronomy 6:2, 1 Kings 3:14, Ephesians 6:3). The reason, I believe, that prayers go unanswered, is because he is very hands-off with the Earth since creation. I know many people disagree with this, and there are certainly examples of God interacting with the world and providing miracles, but on the whole, the world behaves as he planned for it to. When we pray for something to happen, God uses us, people, to do his work. When we pray for healing, he provides humans, their brains and a logical world that makes sense when observed closely that have led to the development of medicine that can be used to provide healing. When we pray for a new job, he can change our minds so that we use the skills that he intended for us to have when he created us. In this way our prayers are answered. When they go unanswered, it isn’t that God has been answering your prayers up until now and has decided that this prayer is unworthy of a response. It is that what he has provided to answer those prayers (his servants), aren’t able to fulfill that request.

Like I said in the beginning, you may not find this answer adequate. That just means that we need to study further, because I believe that God always provides us with answers. If we can’t seem to find one, then maybe we aren’t looking in the right place (Matthew 7:7). Keep looking and keep praying so that we can become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

-Nathaniel Johnson

 

 

 

What Happens When We Pray?

Thursday, October 5, 2017

psalm 145 18

We know that God already knows our thoughts and prayers before we ever lift them up to him (Matthew 6:8), so why do we still need to pray? Yesterday, I promised you an answer to this question and today I will do my best to provide you with one.
I first want to start with a story from when I was in elementary school. Back in those days, I was too young to drive, so I would use my bike to get around. For my birthday one year, I got the coolest green bike from my parents. I loved that thing and would ride it up and down my street or take it to my friend’s house. Then one day while I was at my friend’s house, my green bike was stolen out of his driveway. After this happened, I prayed for weeks that God would give me a new bike. Firstly, I don’t know what I expected God to do. Did I expect a new bike to show up in my garage overnight? Did I expect him to take control of my parents and have them go and buy a new bike?  Regardless, what ended up happening was not what I asked for. Instead of getting a new bike, I had a change of heart.

 

After days of praying about this, I realized that what I was praying for really was not necessary. So what does prayer do? God works through prayer to change us. Whenever we pray in Jesus’ name, we are actively being made into new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). Now there are certainly special cases where God physically interacts with the world to answer our prayers. This has a special name: miracles. I absolutely believe that God has the power to grant any kind of miracle, but I also believe that he rarely chooses to do so. He is our Father that knows what is best for us (Matthew 6:30), and will not neglect us. However, most of our prayers will be a medium for God to work in our own hearts and minds to change us. This is why we must commit ourselves to constant prayer. On the one hand, if we have important issues on our mind and in our prayers at all times, then our actions will start to reflect those things and through our actions, God can answer our prayers. On the other hand, if we spend our time praying for frivolous things, we will be able to realize that by the amount of time we spend thinking and praying about it.

 

This of course leads to one more very difficult question: if God knows what we need and won’t neglect us, than why do some of our prayers, especially those for healing, go unanswered? We will dive into that topic tomorrow. But for today, focus on prayer and being made into a new creation.

 

-Nathaniel Johnson