By AN UNKNOWN CHRISTIAN
CHAPTER 8: DOES GOD ALWAYS ANSWER PRAYER?
WE now come to one of the most important questions that any man can ask. Very much depends
upon the answer we are led to give. Let us not shrink from facing the question fairly and
honestly. Does God always answer prayer? Of course, we all grant that He does answer prayer
-- some prayers, and sometimes. But does He always answer true prayer. Some so-called
prayers He does not answer, because He does not hear them. When His people were rebellious,
He said, "When ye make many prayers, I will not hear" (Isa. 1:15).
But a child of God ought to expect answers to prayer. God means every prayer to have an
answer; and not a single real prayer can fail of its effect in heaven.
And yet that wonderful declaration of St. Paul: "All things are yours, for ye are
Christ's" (I Cor. 3:21), seems so plainly and so tragically untrue for most
Christians. Yet it is not so. They are ours, but so many of us do not possess our
possessions. The owners of Mount Morgan, in Queensland, toiled arduously for years on its
barren slopes, eking out a miserable existence, never knowing that under their feet was one
of the richest sources of gold the world has ever known. There was wealth, vast, undreamt
of, yet unimagined and unrealized. It was "theirs," yet not theirs.
The Christian, however, knows of the riches of God in glory in Christ Jesus, but he does not
seem to know how to get them.
Now, our Lord tells us that they are to be had for the asking. May He indeed give us all a
right judgment in "prayer-things." When we say that no true prayer goes unanswered
we are not claiming that God always gives just what we ask for. Have you ever met a
parent so foolish as to treat his child like that? We do not give our child a red-hot poker
because he clamors for it! Wealthy people are the most careful not to allow their children
much pocket-money.
Why, if God gave us all we prayed for, we should rule the world, and not He! And surely we
would all confess that we are not capable of doing that. Moreover, more than one ruler of
the world is an absolute impossibility!
God's answer to prayer may be "Yes," or it may be "No." It may be
"Wait," for it may be that He plans a much larger blessing than we imagined,
and one which involves other lives as well as our own.
God's answer is sometimes "No." But this is not necessarily a proof of known and
wilful sin in the life of the suppliant, although there may be sins of ignorance. He
said "No" to St. Paul sometimes (II Cor. 12:8,9). More often than not the
refusal is due to our ignorance or selfishness in asking. "For we know not how to
pray as we ought" (Rom. 8:26). That was what was wrong with the mother of Zebedee's
children. She came and worshipped our Lord and prayed to Him. He quickly replied, "Ye
know not what ye ask" (Matt. 20:22). Elijah, a great man of prayer, sometimes
had "No" for an answer. But when he was swept up to glory in a chariot of fire,
did he regret that God said "No" when he cried out "O Lord, take away my
life"?
God's answer is sometimes "Wait." He may delay the answer because we are not yet
fit to receive the gift we crave -- as with wrestling Jacob. Do you remember the famous
prayer of Augustine -- "O God, make me pure, but not now"? Are not our prayers
sometimes like that? Are we always really willing to "drink the cup" -- to pay the
price of answered prayer? Sometimes He delays so that greater glory may be brought to
Himself.
God's delays are not denials. We do not know why He sometimes delays the answer and at other
times answers "before we call" (Isa. 65:24). George Muller, one of the greatest
men of prayer of all time, had to pray over a period of more than sixty-three years for the
conversion of a friend! Who can tell why? "The great point is never to give up until
the answer comes," said Muller. "I have been praying for sixty-three years and
eight months for one man's conversion. He is not converted yet, but he will be! How can it
be otherwise? There is the unchanging promise of Jehovah, and on that I rest." Was this
delay due to some persistent hindrance from the devil? (Dan. 10:13). Was it a mighty and
prolonged effort on the part of Satan to shake or break Muller's faith? For no sooner was
Muller dead than his friend was converted -- even before the funeral.
Yes, his prayer was granted, though the answer tarried long in coming. So many of George
Muller's petitions were granted him that it is no wonder that he once exclaimed, "Oh,
how good, kind, gracious and condescending is the One with Whom we have to do! I am only a
poor, frail, sinful man, but He has heard my prayers ten thousands of times."
Perhaps some are asking, How can I discover whether God's answer is
"No" or "Wait"? We may rest assured that He will not let us pray
sixty-three years to get a "No"! Muller's prayer, so long repeated, was based
upon the knowledge that God "willeth not the death of a sinner"; "He would
have all men to be saved" (I Tim. 2:4).
Even as I write, the postman brings me an illustration of this. A letter comes from one who
very rarely writes me, and did not even know my address -- one whose name is known to every
Christian worker in England. A loved one was stricken down with illness. Is he to continue
to pray for her recovery? Is God's answer "No," or is it, "Go on praying --
wait"? My friend writes: "I had distinct guidance from God regarding my
beloved . . . that it was the will of God she should be taken . . . I retired into the rest
of surrender and submission to His will. I have much to praise God for." A few hours
later God took that loved one to be with Him in glory.
Again may we urge our readers to hold on to this truth: true prayer never goes
unanswered.
If we only gave more thought to our prayers we should pray more intelligently. That sounds
like a truism. But we say it because some dear Christian people seem to lay their common
sense and reason aside before they pray. A little reflection would show that God cannot
grant some prayers. During the war every nation prayed for victory. Yet it is perfectly
obvious that all countries could not be victorious. Two men living together might pray, the
one for rain and the other for fine weather. God cannot give both these things at the same
time in the same place!
But the truthfulness of God is at stake in this matter of prayer. We have all been reading
again those marvelous prayer-promises of our Lord, and have almost staggered at those
promises -- the wideness of their scope, the fullness of their intent, the largeness of the
one word "Whatsoever." Very well! "Let God be found true" (Rom. 3:4).
He certainly will always be "found true."
Do not stop to ask the writer if God has granted all his prayers. He has not. To have
said "Yes" to some of them would have spelt curse instead of blessing. To have
answered others was, alas! a spiritual impossibility -- he was not worthy of the gifts he
sought. The granting, of some of them would but have fostered spiritual pride and
self-satisfaction. How plain all these things seem now, in the fuller light of God's Holy
Spirit!
As one looks back and compares one's eager, earnest prayers with one's poor, unworthy
service and lack of true spirituality, one sees how impossible it was for God to grant the
very things He longed to impart! It was often like asking God to put the ocean of His love
into a thimble-heart! And yet, how God just yearns to bless us with every spiritual
blessing! How the dear Savior cries again and again, "How often would I . . . but ye
would not"! (Matt. 23:37.) The sadness of it all is that we often ask and do not
receive because of our unworthiness -- and then we complain because God does not answer
our prayers! The Lord Jesus declares that God gives the Holy Spirit -- who teaches us how
to pray -- just as readily as a father gives good gifts to his children. But no gift is
a "good gift" if the child is not fit to use that gift. God never gives us
something that we cannot, or will not, use for His glory (I am not referring to talents, for
we may abuse or "bury" those, but to spiritual gifts).
Did you ever see a father give his baby boy a razor when he asked for it, because he hoped
the boy would grow into a man and then find the razor useful? Does a father never say to his
child, "Wait till you are older, or bigger, or wiser, or better, or stronger"? May
not our loving heavenly Father also say to us, "Wait"?
In our ignorance
and
blindness we must surely sometimes say,
In very love refuse
Whate'er Thou seest
Our weakness would abuse.
Rest assured that God never bestows tomorrow's gift today. It is not unwillingness on His
part to give. It is not that God is ever straitened in Himself. His resources are infinite,
and His ways are past finding out. It was after bidding His disciples to ask that our Lord
goes on to hint not only at His providence, but at His resources. "Look at the wild
birds" (Matt. 6:26, Moffatt); "your heavenly Father feedeth them." How
simple it sounds. Yet have you ever reflected that not a single millionaire, the wide world
over, is wealthy enough to feed all "the birds of the air," even for one day? Your
heavenly Father feedeth them every day, and is none the poorer for it. Shall He not much
more feed you, clothe you, take care of you?
Oh, let us rely more upon prayer! Do we not know that "He is a Rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him"? (Hebrews 11:6.) The "oil" of the Holy Spirit will
never cease to flow so long as there are empty vessels to receive it (I Kings 4:6). It is
always we who are to blame when the Spirit's work ceases. God cannot trust some Christians
with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. God cannot trust some workers with definite spiritual
results in their labors. They would suffer from pride and vainglory. No! we do not claim
that God grants every Christian everything he prays for.
As we saw in an earlier chapter, there must be purity of heart, purity of motive, purity of
desire, if our prayers are to be in His name. God is greater than His promises, and often
gives more than either we desire or deserve -- but He does not always do so. So, then,
if any specific petition is not granted, we may feel sure that God is calling us to examine
our hearts. For He has undertaken to grant every prayer that is truly offered in His name.
Let us repeat His blessed words once more -- we cannot repeat them too often --
"Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified
in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, that will I do" (John 14:13,14).
Remember that it was impossible for Christ to offer up any prayer which was not granted.
He was God -- He knew the mind of God -- He had the mind of the Holy Spirit.
Does He once say, "Father, if it be possible, let. . ." as He kneels in agony in
Gethsemane's garden, pouring out strong crying and tears? Yes, and "He was heard for
His reverential awe" (Heb. 5:7, Dr. Moule). Surely not the "agony," but the
son-like fear, gained the answer? Our prayers are heard not so much because they are
importunate but because they are filial.
Brother Christian, we cannot fully understand that hallowed scene of dreadful awe and
wonder. But this we know -- that our Lord never yet made a promise which He cannot keep,
or does not mean to fulfil. The Holy Spirit maketh intercession for us (Rom. 8:26), and
God cannot say Him "Nay." The Lord Jesus makes intercession for us
(Hebrews 7:25), and God cannot say Him "Nay." His prayers are worth a
thousand of ours, but it is He who bids us pray!
"But was not St. Paul filled with the Holy Spirit?" you ask, "and did he not
say, 'We have the mind of Christ?' Yet he asked thrice over that God would remove the
'thorn' in his flesh -- and yet God distinctly tells him He would not do so."
It is a very singular thing, too, that the only petition recorded of St. Paul seeking
something for his own individual need was refused! The difficulty, however, is this: Why
did St. Paul, who had the "mind" of Christ, ask for something which he soon
discovered was contrary to God's wishes? There are doubtless many fully-consecrated
Christians reading these words who have been perplexed because God has not given some
things they prayed for.
We must remember that we may be filled with the Spirit and yet err in judgment or desire. We
must remember, too, that we are never filled with God's Holy Spirit once for all. The evil
one is always on the watch to put his mind into us, so as to strike at God through us. At
any moment we may become disobedient or unbelieving, or may be betrayed into some thought or
act contrary to the Spirit of love.
We have an astonishing example of this in the life of St. Peter. At one moment, under the
compelling influence of God's Holy Spirit, he cries, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of
the living God!" Our Lord turns, and with words of high commendation says,
"Blessed art thou, Simon, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My
Father, which is in heaven." Yet, a very little while after, the devil gets his mind
into St. Peter, and our Lord turns and says unto him, "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
(Matt. 16:17,23.) St. Peter was now speaking in the name of Satan! Satan still
"desires to have" us.
St. Paul was tempted to think that he could do far better work for his beloved Master if
only that "thorn" could be removed. But God knew that Paul would be a better man
with the "thorn" than without it.
Is it not a comfort to us to know that we may bring more glory to God under something which
we are apt to regard as a hindrance or handicap, than if that undesired thing was
removed? "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is made perfect in
weakness" (II Cor. 12:9). Remember that
God nothing does, nor suffers to be done,
But what thou would'st thyself
Did'st thou but see
The end of all He does as well as He.
St. Paul was not infallible -- nor was St. Peter, or St. John; nor is the Pope or any other
man. We may -- and do -- offer up mistaken prayers. The highest form of prayer is not,
"Thy way, O God, not mine," but "My way, O God, is Thine!" We are taught
to pray, not "Thy will be changed," but "Thy will be done."
May we, in conclusion, give the testimony of two who have proved that God can be trusted?
Sir H. M. Stanley, the great explorer, wrote: "I for one must not dare to say that prayers
are inefficacious. Where I have been in earnest, I have been answered. When I prayed for
light to guide my followers wisely through the perils that beset them, a ray of light has
come upon the perplexed mind, and a clear road to deliverance has been pointed out. You may
know when prayer is answered, by the glow of content which fills one who has flung his
cause before God, as he rises to his feet. I have evidence, satisfactory to myself, that
prayers are granted."
Mary Slessor, the story of whose life in West Africa has surely thrilled us all, was once
asked what prayer meant to her. She replied, "My life is one long, daily, hourly record
of answered prayer for physical health, for mental overstrain, for guidance given
marvelously, for errors and dangers averted, for enmity to the Gospel subdued, for food
provided at the exact hour needed, for everything that goes to make up life and my poor
service. I can testify with a full and often wonder-stricken awe that I believe God answers
prayer. I know God answers prayer!"
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