Thursday, August 17, 2017

The Value of Unanswered Prayer

Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,' to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness." -Numbers 11:11-15

Tonight is Prayer Service at our church. Some will gather and offer up prayers requests for perceived needs and praises to the Lord for who he is and how he has answered our requests. This is a regular practice of our church and many believers around the globe. We often gauge the value of these prayer times by how many times God has said "yes" to our requests. In short, if we see many affirmative answers, we conclude that the Prayer Service is valuable and worth going to. Unfortunately, we often conclude that if our requests are not being answered, that means there that God must not hear us and there is therefore little or no value in continuing the practice of prayer. But I'd like to submit to you that unanswered prayers don't mean that God isn't listening. And unanswered prayers certainly don't mean that we should give up praying.

In these verses in Numbers 11, we see Moses approach the Lord with his troubles and requests. The Children of Israel were complaining again. Moses was taking the brunt of their complaints and was feeling quite overwhelmed. As he lays out his burden before the Lord, he asks the Lord if it was meant for him to bear the burden of the people alone, to kill him at once. This is an honest prayer. Moses can't take the heaviness, the extreme weight of the complaining, the stress of trying to meet the needs of all these people. So he simply asks the Lord to kill him to spare him the pain of this great burden. 

Have you ever prayed this way? I know that I have. Maybe the circumstances were a little different. Maybe I was not praying concerning the complaints of people. But I have prayed in times of heaviness and sorrow and stress that the Lord would spare me the pain by "taking me out". I don't know about you, but as I look back on these times I sure am glad that God didn't answer all my prayers with a "yes". I often don't pray for things as I ought. I often pray selfishly and pray for solutions that are feasible only in my mind. God wants us to pray, and he wants us to pray honestly, but he wants us to pray with a "Your will be done" attached to all our requests.

Unanswered prayer has more value than you think. Moses didn't get a "yes" answer to his request here. God didn't kill him. Instead, God appointed 70 elders to help Moses bear the burden of the people. God gave an answer according to Moses need, rather than giving a blanket answer to his misinformed request. The Lord does the same for us today. He hears our prayers and sees our needs. When our prayers don't align with our needs, he sovereignly meets the needs instead of answering the prayer we pray. You might pray for what you think is best, but then God provides something far better. Moses was not meant to bear the burden of leading alone, but the answer was not to take Moses out of the picture. No, the answer was to give support and encouragement through a team of leaders. An answer far better than the request, wouldn't you say?

Yes, tonight is Prayer Service at church. Yes, God will hear our prayers. And yes, God will meet our needs. But sometimes our prayers and our needs are not the same thing. Don't be disappointed by unanswered prayers. Be thankful that God didn't answer your every request. Chances are, you might not be happy with the results if he did.

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Why Do We Suffer?

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you." -1 Peter 5:8-10

Why do we suffer? It is a valid question. It is a question that has been asked for millennia by those who claim to follow the true God and by those who claim not to be religious at all. It is a question that can be answered simply, and it is a question that can be answered in a complex way. It is a question for the believer in Jesus Christ and it is a question for the atheist. Why do we suffer?

Why do we suffer? It has to be acknowledged, first and foremost, that suffering is caused by sin. Suffering is universal because sin is universal. The Bible states clearly, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." The first sin of disobedience by Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden welcomed suffering into the world. Remember, God promised that the day that Adam and Eve at of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would surely die. They disobeyed God and they suffered the consequences for their sin and the rest of humanity was cast into a state of suffering as a result. Since that time, the sinful nature of mankind has continued to cause suffering universally.

Why do we suffer? The believer in Jesus asks this question from a unique perspective. Unlike the atheist or the agnostic, who asks the question and searches endlessly for a satisfactory answer, the Christian can ask the question "why?" and see the answer on the pages of the Scriptures. In the above verses from the apostle Peter's first letter, we read part of the answer to the question. The devil is...seeking whom he may devour. It is important to realize the the devil is a master of destruction. He wants to destroy what God has created. The devil wants to destroy nations, cities, families, marriages, humanity itself. The devil would destroy God if he could. He is rightly called "a murderer". So be on your guard Christian. Watch out, resist, stand strong, be faithful. You are not alone. Peter says that you are part of a brotherhood that is also experiencing the same sorts of suffering at the hand of the wicked one.

Why do we suffer? Part of answering this question is understanding that if you have trusted in Christ, you are headed for heaven. God has called you to His eternal glory, and He will bring you there. Notice verse 10. Peter says that God will perfect you. That means He will give you what you need to make it all the way to heaven. God will establish you. That means He will give you right directions. God will strengthen you. That means He will give you courage. God will settle you. That means He will ensure you experience final victory over the suffering in the world.

Why do we suffer? It is a necessary part of living in a fallen world. God will use suffering to accomplish his ultimate purpose in bringing the believer to heaven to enjoy God's eternal glory forever. The God of all grace will see that what He calls you to, He equips you for. Yes, you will suffer. But your suffering is not pointless. It is working for you a far more eternal weight of glory in Christ Jesus.