7.21.26 – Prayer Not Answered

In our Torah portion, Va'etchanan, Moses pleads with God to allow him to see the Promised Land (Deut. 3:25). Deep students of God's Word have said that Moses prayed 515 times, pleading with the Lord, but God's answer was "No"—and then He said, "We won't talk about this anymore" (Deut. 3:26). How could God say no? Have you ever had your prayer requests go unanswered? Have you ever hoped for something—not even selfishly (James 4:1–4), but on behalf of someone else—and your hope was delayed, or you got a "no"? It makes the heart sick (Prov. 13:12).

With all the pressures and frustrations of life facing us every morning, inquiring minds want to know: what is this prayer stuff all about? Is it just the law of attraction? A spiritual Santa Claus where I get my latest favorite toy?

Let us begin at the beginning. (Nice, Mr. Obvious. :-)) God is the absolute King, Ruler, and Creator of the universe. In other words, God is in control of everything—not like a dictator, but as a purposeful Creator. Job tells us that no plan of God's can be thwarted (Job 42:2). Solomon, the wisest man in history, tells us that the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and is directed like an irrigation channel (Prov. 21:1). The prophets remind us that God uses both good and evil to bring about His plans (Prov. 16:4)—and all this time, I thought I was in charge (LOL).

It is also quite clear that God never makes a move that is not motivated by His purposes. There are no accidental or incidental decisions in heaven. God always does exactly what is the correct thing to do in order to bring about the divine objective of what is best—not only at the moment, but in the long run as well.

And lest we think God is some kind of Dictator in the sky or ultimate killjoy, let us remember that God is good (Ps. 34:8; 100:5; 145:9; Nah. 1:7; etc.). God is absolutely holy, has no second agendas, and will always do what is necessary and essential to bring about the best result (Ps. 99:9; 1 Cor. 3:17). Of course, we might not think that what happens in life is the best result, but we are not God. Thanks, Mr. Obvious. :-)

When I forget these truths, it often seems as though what happens to us and to others does not make sense. If we were to judge end results, we would quickly start to look at life through our lens of what is good and right. Obviously, His ways are not my ways (Isa. 55:8–9). None of us—not even Moses—is able to see the biggest picture. Speaking of myself, my finite mind is structurally insufficient to discern the ways of eternity and the infinite. Consequently, I either trust in God's character or I fight for my version of justice.

So, what is prayer really all about? And why, when it is not answered the way I think it should be, do I become so bitter toward my heavenly Santa Claus? Throughout the good book we call the Bible, the purpose of prayer is to transform our hearts in such a way that we will be fully prepared to accept what God has to offer. This is very different from my usual prayer asking God to provide what I think I need. God-centered prayer opens the door to the holy, sovereign God to choose what is best and give what is necessary. It is always in perfect alignment with the will of the Father because it assumes that the issue at hand is not with the Giver, but with the receiver.

God will always do what is right, holy, blessed, and perfect. I do not have to convince Him of that. It is in His nature to do these things. What is needed is that I become the kind of person who can receive what God has to offer. When I pray for anything else, I run the risk of being out of alignment with the will of the Father, finding my prayers (really, requests) unanswered and ending up frustrated (and blaming). You know what I mean?

God does not always answer prayer the way I want... Ugh! But I can always count on God to do what is best for me and for His entire creation (Rom. 8:28). What I need to do is prepare my heart to accept what He is doing. Once my heart is in alignment, I discover peace, joy, purpose, and power. Why? Because I know that the heavenly Father knows what He is doing, and all I have to do is completely trust Him.

You have been prayed for.

Shalom,
Alan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4.4.26 ~ Can You Count to Three?

Image
Today, Saturday 4/4/26, many will celebrate the day that Yeshua was visibly seen risen from the grave (John 20:1; Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 24:1–10)! The day after His resurrection, Yeshua would be out ministering to the doubts of His disciples, helping them realize that He is alive and that the purpose of His resurrection would be catalyzed by their lives. For the disciples closest to Yeshua and those who stood at a safe distance away, it was a time of doubt. The enemy was in hot pursuit. They were fearful for their lives, but just at the God-appointed time, their salvation appeared.  Does that sound vaguely familiar? It should. Earlier this week, on the day after Passover—the 15th of the first month—the natural-born Israelites and those who joined them through the blood of the Lamb exited Egypt and headed toward the sea. In just a few days, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pharaoh would not be happy that he let the Israelites go; he felt betrayed, and he was hot (Ex. 14:5–9). Mose...
Read more

3.20.25 ~ Pray for Boldness, Not Escape

Good morning! Yesterday, we learned some essential truths about how to 'be still and know that He is God (Psa. 46:10). Today, I want to ask you a different question based on life's ability to throw a wide variety of circumstances at us!  One of the most difficult situations is when we are threatened by someone or some circumstance. Have you ever been threatened?  Oh, maybe no one came up to you with a gun, or shouted at you with malice, or told you that you were going to be tortured or punished.  Maybe all the threat you ever had was the innuendo of rejection, or the social snub or something much less violent than jail time.  But my guess is that if you are traveling the road with Yeshua, living a Torah lifestyle, you know what it means to be threatened. Every time the circumstances of your life look as though they are about to cave in, you are threatened.  It might not be a threat from a physical enemy, then again...but we all know that in one form or another t...
Read more

3.22.25 ~ Zeal Without Boundaries: The Sabbath and the Golden Calf

Shabbat shalom! Although the portion of Vayakhel/and he assembled is almost entirely focused on the construction of the tabernacle, it begins by reminding the children of Israel that no work may be done on the Sabbath (Ex. 35:2,3). Why does it begin here rather than jumping right into how to construct the Tabernacle? Enquiring minds want to know :-) By placing the topic of the Sabbath against the construction of the Tabernacle it's God's way of defining the boundaries of the Sabbath...that even the most intimate work for the Lord needs to be put aside for His 'Date Day'. However, upon further investigation, there’s another layer to understand that connects us back to the golden calf (Ex. 32). As we know, while Moses was up on the mount getting the instructions from God the children of Israel decided to make an object that would replace Moses, their deliverer; The object, later known as the golden calf, originally intended as a 'necessary' means to have God in th...
Read more