Word of Encouragement (2/19/2021)
We are talking about the necessity of prayer, particularly in relation to God’s sovereign, eternal, predestined will. Yesterday, we saw a dramatic example of this in Daniel’s prayer in Dan. 9. Today, let’s talk about what God wants to accomplish in us through our prayer.
We said that our prayer is a means by which God achieves His purpose. But, obviously, not all of our petitions are answered the way we think or hope. In fact, there are many, to which God’s answer is no. This should not surprise us. The Bible says clearly, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1 John 5:14).
Of course, there are also seemingly “blanket” promises of God concerning prayer: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8); “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). But any student of literature knows the importance of context in deciphering the true meaning of a sentence/statement. The Bible has to be read as an organic entity, whose various parts are all related to one another. Therefore, no statement in the Bible should be read in isolation. Nor should these “blanket” promises of God regarding prayer. They should not be understood apart from what the Bible tells us about God’s character.
Can we honestly think that these “blanket” promises of God literally mean everything, including sinful things? God forbid! Consider what Jesus said right after one of these blanket promises in Matt. 7:7-8. He says in the very next verse, “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him” (7:9-11)! Why doesn’t God give something bad/evil when we ask for something good? Because He is good! If so, if we ask for something bad/evil, would He give it to us? If anything, we should be grateful to God for saying no in such cases!
This is crucial to what God wants to accomplish in us through our prayer. We will go into greater detail later but, for now, it suffices to say this: through the way God responds to our prayer—yes, or no, or wait—and the way we interpret it in light of Scripture, we come to understand His character and will in an experiential way.
Why do you want God to say “Yes!” to your prayer? Is it because you get what you want? How about this—because you are delighted to discover that what you desired was what God desired? In the former, the focus is on you; in the latter, the focus is on God and His will. If the focus is on God’s will, we will not be so disappointed that God did not say yes to our request. Rather, we will be grateful to have discovered God’s will, which is so much better for us than our own will. Through this process, we can come to know better and better and become better and better according to God’s will, just like Jesus! And we know what happens when we pray according to His will!