Chapter 17 - Unanswered Prayer: Living with the mystery
In this chapter, Yancey explores the sweeping promises of Jesus concerning prayer and the mystery of why some prayers receive answers and some, seemingly, do not. "As C. S. Lewis acknowledged, the real problem lies not in the fact of refusal but in the Bible's lavish promises. In a nutshell, the main difficulty with unanswered prayers is that Jesus seemed to promise there need not be any."
He poses the question, "Could it be that Jesus gave the Twelve, handpicked to carry on the work after his death, certain rights and privileges in prayer that would not be normative for every follower?" Although the Gospel writers don't say that directly, "they do specify in each case that Jesus was speaking to his intimate disciples, not a large crowd." He also suggests another explanation that perhaps "The assurance of answered prayers, still sweeping in scope, comes with conditions. Am I abiding in Christ? Am I making requests according to his will? Am I obeying his commands?" I agree with Yancey on this statement: "The more we know of God, the more we know God's will, the more likely our prayers will align with that will."
He addresses the importance of waiting and gives examples from the Bible of the many prayers that were answered after long periods of waiting. Sometimes the person whose prayer was answered did not live to see the answer. The passage came to my mind just before I read it in the book that a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day with the Lord. I have been convinced for a long time that God's slowness in responding to many situations is an act of mercy. He is patient and often does not respond in our time frame, but God is faithful. (A random thought to a long standing question of mine I will throw in here. I wonder if that is the explanation to Jesus telling the thief on the cross that "today" he would be with him in paradise -- since Jesus was not going to be in paradise within the next 24 hour period of time. But if a thousand years is as a day to the Lord, Jesus obviously did not have our human time limitation in mind.)
Yancey tells of Christian friends in China and Japan, experiencing persecution of the church such as no American has yet to experience (that I know of). And he quotes a Chinese Christian as instructing others, "Don't pray for me to get out of prison, please pray for courage and strength so that I can witness boldly in the prison and not lose faith." I feel shamed by reading that, as I so often have a boldness that stands up for a moment and then wants to retreat into a corner when I experience a far lesser opposition than witnessing boldly in prison.
Yancey touched on something that was mentioned in a previous comment when he expressed the belief that "In all my prayers, whether I get the answers I want or not, I can count on this one fact: God can make use of whatever happens. Nothing is irredeemable." I love that about God. I know that so often I blunder in my attempt to do the right things. My motives can never be 100% pure. There is always sin and selfish motives intermingled with anything I desire to do from a pure heart. But God can still use us in our inadequacy. He can redeem every situation, every conversation, every blunder. And He will. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. We just have to acknowledge our condition and run to Him for His forgiveness, His mercy and His redemption.
Yancey quotes a British author, John Baillie, as praying this prayer: "Teach me, O God, so to use all the circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin," and goes on to list these specific requests as a part of that prayer...
He poses the question, "Could it be that Jesus gave the Twelve, handpicked to carry on the work after his death, certain rights and privileges in prayer that would not be normative for every follower?" Although the Gospel writers don't say that directly, "they do specify in each case that Jesus was speaking to his intimate disciples, not a large crowd." He also suggests another explanation that perhaps "The assurance of answered prayers, still sweeping in scope, comes with conditions. Am I abiding in Christ? Am I making requests according to his will? Am I obeying his commands?" I agree with Yancey on this statement: "The more we know of God, the more we know God's will, the more likely our prayers will align with that will."
He addresses the importance of waiting and gives examples from the Bible of the many prayers that were answered after long periods of waiting. Sometimes the person whose prayer was answered did not live to see the answer. The passage came to my mind just before I read it in the book that a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day with the Lord. I have been convinced for a long time that God's slowness in responding to many situations is an act of mercy. He is patient and often does not respond in our time frame, but God is faithful. (A random thought to a long standing question of mine I will throw in here. I wonder if that is the explanation to Jesus telling the thief on the cross that "today" he would be with him in paradise -- since Jesus was not going to be in paradise within the next 24 hour period of time. But if a thousand years is as a day to the Lord, Jesus obviously did not have our human time limitation in mind.)
Yancey tells of Christian friends in China and Japan, experiencing persecution of the church such as no American has yet to experience (that I know of). And he quotes a Chinese Christian as instructing others, "Don't pray for me to get out of prison, please pray for courage and strength so that I can witness boldly in the prison and not lose faith." I feel shamed by reading that, as I so often have a boldness that stands up for a moment and then wants to retreat into a corner when I experience a far lesser opposition than witnessing boldly in prison.
Yancey touched on something that was mentioned in a previous comment when he expressed the belief that "In all my prayers, whether I get the answers I want or not, I can count on this one fact: God can make use of whatever happens. Nothing is irredeemable." I love that about God. I know that so often I blunder in my attempt to do the right things. My motives can never be 100% pure. There is always sin and selfish motives intermingled with anything I desire to do from a pure heart. But God can still use us in our inadequacy. He can redeem every situation, every conversation, every blunder. And He will. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. We just have to acknowledge our condition and run to Him for His forgiveness, His mercy and His redemption.
Yancey quotes a British author, John Baillie, as praying this prayer: "Teach me, O God, so to use all the circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin," and goes on to list these specific requests as a part of that prayer...
Let me use disappointment as material for patience.
Let me use success as material for thankfulness.
Let me use trouble as material for perseverance.
Let me use danger as material for courage.
Let me use reproach as material for long suffering.
Let me use praise as material for humility.
Let me use pleasures as material for temperance.
Let me use pain as material for endurance.
We are selfish by nature and we tend to pray "for successes, happy outcomes, and relief from difficulties." Help me, Lord, to pray unselfish prayers that are in line with your will and your purposes in the earth. I know that one of the ways God answers prayer is through human agents. "God has chosen to express love and grace in the world through those of us who embody Christ," Yancey reminds his readers. The Apostle Paul carried such a burden for the Jewish people, his people, to embrace the Messiah that he had encountered on the road to Damascus and he prayed to that end daily. Yet in "city after city, his fellow Jews rejected him and he turned to the Gentiles." Yancey points out that Paul's response to that disappointment was not to simply make the request and "resign himself to God's decision." No. "Paul the human agent put feet to his prayer, making a habit of going first to the synagogue when he entered a new town, often at great personal cost as his visits led to riots." Paul persevered. We must never grow weary in well doing or in waiting for God's help. The Jews' rejection of Jesus led to his acceptance by the Gentiles. God has a plan and we will not always understand the plan. "In the end," Yancey concludes, "unanswered prayer brings me face-to-face with the mystery that silenced Paul: the profound difference between my perspective and God's."
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the Lord.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."
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