How Does Faith Intersect With Answered Prayers?

We all have our favorite words that we like to use quite a bit, right? And then, as we get to know each other, we kind of can almost know where people are going to go with their words. One of my favorite words is I like to use the word adventure when talking about something challenging coming on, right? Adventure sounds a lot more fun and better than the word trial.

And so I like to frame things, because when you go on an adventure, you're exploring a new world, right? A new place. Maybe it's a bucket list item that you have. You want to see a particular part of the world, and so you're going to go on this great adventure. Or maybe it's a new job that you're going to take, and it's going to be an adventure.

Or you're going to start a business at home. And so you tell friends that you're going to start this new adventure, and you tell your kids and your family, we're going on an adventure. This is going to be fun. But often, I personally don't really like using the word trial, because the word trial sounds pretty heavy, where the adventure, where the word adventure sounds fun and exciting.

For example, if I was to tell you that I have this really heavy health trial coming up in my life, and I would like you to walk along this journey with me, that would be a heavy load that you would probably be feeling as well as I place that on you. But if I told you I have a health adventure and a new chapter of my life that I'm going to be exploring soon, and I want you to come along on my new adventure with me, you'd probably would say, okay, where do I sign up?

And so I went further, and then you're like, oh wow, he's kind of playing here a little bit, isn't he? I get it that these are just two different words, adventure and trial, and that using them differently doesn't change the terminology or remove the physical problems or the difficulties that we go through. Because when push comes to shove, health trials are some of the heaviest things that we go through in this physical life.

They are sometimes all-consuming. They can monopolize our thoughts. They take our emotions on a roller coaster ride. They often cost us money that we would much rather spend on other things. They can strain our personal relationships with those that are closest to us, and often they are just painful, and often they come with a lot of discomfort. And then there's the spiritual component to health trials, which is a whole other ballgame, the spiritual wrestling that we sometimes go through with God. We know that nothing limits God's hands, and he is completely capable of healing all of our illnesses, and in fact there is nothing less that the Bible says than that God does these things.

Turn with me to Psalm 103. There's many scriptures we could turn to. I'm just gonna focus on one right now. Psalm 103, and beginning at the start of this chapter, verse 1, Heading reads a Psalm of David. So this is from penned by himself through one of his difficult times that he went through as he reflected on how God intervenes and God helps.

But he says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits. The word benefits often we think about is maybe compensation or something you get for your employment. They'll give you a benefit package. It's a little bit different when we consider what God views and how God views benefits.

It says, Who forgives all of your iniquities? Who heals all your diseases? When God refers to his benefits or as David refers to God's benefits, he's talking about God's dealings with humanity, what he is doing in our lives, his good deeds that he gives to his people and to all of humanity. And it's all done in his perfect righteousness. And so the verse says that one of these deeds, one of these doings that God does for us, is that he heals us.

He heals us of our diseases. And there's many, many verses we could turn to that speaks to this aspect of what God does in our lives. In the last sermon I shared with you, I read some hard statements that you may have heard said at different times in your time of being in the church or in your journey with God. And I want to explore these questions and consider if they align with Scripture. Sometimes a statement has been made if they only had more faith in God, they would be healed of their health trial.

It's kind of a hard statement to hear and even if it's not directed towards you and a challenge you're going through, because it questions somebody's faith. Do they not have enough faith? Are they challenged with too little of faith? Or else God would heal him, wouldn't he? What about another question? I wonder what the person did or what sin is going on in their life that God is choosing not to heal them at this time. Or maybe another question.

I'm sure there's a lesson God is trying to teach them, but they must not be listening or seeing what it is, or else he would remove this trial from their life. Again, I asked these questions that I posed last time. Are these fair statements and fair questions to ask? Are these statements accurate? Let's dive right in and begin addressing these statements, especially this first one. If they only had more faith, then God would heal them of their health trial. And of course, this doesn't just relate to health trials. This could be any challenge, any trial that you're going through. Maybe it's a loss of a job. If we had enough faith, God would provide them an avenue to find new employment.

Or maybe it's a desire to grow their family, but they're having a health issue. And so it's, well, if they had enough faith, or maybe it's a job search, a financial need, it could be a number of things. If they had enough faith, God would answer their prayers. Let's turn to Matthew 17 in verse 19. I'll admit I don't hear these questions too often said verbally.

I think it's a good thing. But I'll be frank with you. I think that these questions run around some of our minds at times. I know at different times of my life, some of these questions have entered in. I may not have had the courage to say them out loud, but we know if it's in our brain, it may not always come out, but it also could be in our heart. And so I think it's good that from time to time we address what does the Bible say about these aspects and about how God intervenes and how He heals in our lives.

Here in Matthew chapter 17, and we'll start reading in verse 19, but leading up to this verse that we'll read, a man with a demon-possessed son who was trying to hurt himself constantly brought his son to the disciples to ask that this demon be removed, but they couldn't do it. And so this man brings his son to Jesus, and Jesus healed the boy and had this demon removed, which brings us to verse 19. It says, then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out?

And so Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief, that's one of the aspects, for sure do I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. This is one of the verses that sometimes people will use to tell someone else or to say, maybe in a discussion, that if we had enough faith in God, then he would answer our prayers.

He would heal our diseases. He would heal our sicknesses, because isn't that what Jesus is saying right here? And it seems maybe straightforward on the onset, but is this really what Jesus was getting at? We also have to consider, is God a genie in a bottle that is required to grant us any wish that we ask? It takes two things for our faith to move mountains. One, the faith that we have discussed in previous messages and as we've explored over our time in the church, this great faith that Jesus is referring to, it does take faith to move mountains, but it also takes the power of God according to his will, which is also known as his sovereignty.

The answer to the things we pray about in life are directly related to God's will for our lives. But how do we know what God's will is for our life? The answer might not be the one you're looking for. It takes faith. It's circular, isn't it? Because we have to have faith that God is who he is and that he has the ability to heal and to intervene and to answer our prayers. But then as we understand and as we seek his will for our lives, that's where faith comes back in again.

And these two work hand in hand. I want to go back to this example in Matthew because Jesus makes a statement in this passage that deserves a second look. What is the meaning of the mustard seed Jesus used in this example? One thought is that we have traditionally taught and heard and you probably have heard in message before is how small the mustard seed itself is, yet how large of a plant that it would produce.

It is one of the smallest seeds that we can find and that are there. There's other seeds that are smaller, but it's an extremely small seed that produces an extremely large plant. We see later that Jesus references this mustard seed and mustard plant as being a tree that birds can build their nest in and things like that that were around at that time.

That's in Matthew chapter 13. But there's another similar concept that I find equally as powerful. During Jesus's and the disciples' day, what was the mustard plant like? It was actually an invasive species. Once it took root in a garden, it would spread fast. It would crowd out and destroy other plants. It would dominate the soil up to dominating the entire field. It was feared by farmers because it could grow out of control. I found on several sites, even today, this is considered an invasive species in the state of California. While they do not have an eradication program, they have a management and a monitoring program for the mustard plant.

One of the first plants it springs up early in the spring, and it can choke out all other plants around it. When California becomes dry and that plant becomes dry, it's an easy tender for wildfires. When those wildfires come through and the seeds from the mustard plant drop on the ground, they actually release a toxin that is poisonous to other seeds, which hinders their ability to really other plants to spring back up after a wildfire. But, of course, their seeds have no problems. You can go and look this up and look at pictures of hillsides that are covered in mustard plants in California because of the species.

Again, it's still considered invasive today. When Jesus spoke of faith as a mustard seed, and you notice it doesn't say as small as a mustard seed or as little of a mustard seed, it just says faith as a mustard seed, his listeners may not have thought about the size of the seed being tiny. They may have thought uncontainable, invasive, dominating, or unstoppable. When we consider the faith that God wants us to develop in our life, is it that he just wants something small that starts off elementary and little to grow into something big?

That is not a bad thing. That's not something that God would be against. But when we consider the way that he wants his faith living within us to be invasive, to crowd out all other thoughts, all other worries, to be uncontrolled, like out of control as far as growth and building and powering and working in our life, this is that type of faith that permeates every aspect of our lives and that continually maintains a focus on God and his involvement and guidance.

It's not a faith that makes requests of God out of our own selfish motivations, but rather a faith that says, I'm okay regardless of the circumstance because the God of the universe has my back. That's the faith that God wants us to have. That might be the faith that the disciples were thinking of when Christ talked about faith as a mustard seed. This faith is transformative and it's a powerful asset to the believer. Keep this in mind as we look at other passages that have at times been misused. Let's turn to Matthew 7.

So we're going to go a little bit forward in the book of Matthew. Matthew 7 and verse 7.

This is a part of the sermon on the Mount, and we're breaking into the middle of this message from Christ. But Matthew 7 and verse 7. Jesus said, Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be open. Another passage that sounds very straightforward. If you ask, it will be given to you. Christ goes on to say, or what man is among you, who if his son asks for bread will give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, you will give him a serpent. Again, using that analogy as a parent, saying, if your child comes to you and says, I'm hungry, and I need something to eat, you're going to give them what they need.

And it says, If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, and how much more will your father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him?

So is having good health or better health a good thing? Absolutely, it's a good thing.

All I need to do is just ask God to give it to me, and he'll grant it. It's that simple.

But I believe the key to understanding this passage, again, sits right in the middle of the passage that Jesus was sharing with the listener as he explored this parent and child relationship as an example. Jesus in this passage is demonstrating that our father wants a deep and intimate relationship with his children. Every parent desires and wants to have that.

God in heaven wants to know what is on our mind. He wants to hear the challenges that we face.

And along with this, he wants us to learn from him and to begin to think more like him, to see things from his perspective, and to walk in his wisdom of life. This is that relationship that, as a parent, we want with our children. We don't want them to just only come to us when they have needs, but we want this relationship. We want this dynamic and intimate relationship with those who are in our home. And so our father has invited you and me into this journey with him, into this relationship, to not only understand more about him, but to become more like him.

We see that example through our elder brother. We see that we are to put on Christ. We are to emulate his attitude and everything that he did. God wants us to change and to be transformed from our way and the way that our nature wants us to go towards his way. Previously, if we consider the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 6, Jesus walked the disciples through the model prayer. What does our prayer life look like with our God? What should we be asking? What should we reflect on? What should we be thinking on as we work through our prayers with God? Then he talked about considering where we lay up our treasures. What are the important things in our life? What are the things that we hold close to our heart? And are those treasures on this earth? Or are those treasures in heaven? Are we placing them with God? Then he goes on to talk about worries of life in chapter 6. What shall we eat? What shall we wear? And he's saying, I don't want you to worry about these things. I'll take care of your needs. I'll be your God. I'll be your provider. I'll make sure that you have... I know what your needs are better than you even know your needs. I'll make sure that you have them, which brings us very close to this passage in chapter 7 where he's saying, come talk to the Father about your life. We see that God is working in this sermon that Christ shared in showing us the relationship that God wants to have with His people and the way that He wants us to interact with them, the way that He wants us to trust Him, the way that He wants us to grow in faith of Him, and also to just have this wonderful Father-Child relationship, a relationship where we can acknowledge and say, I'm hurting right now. I'm struggling right now.

I don't see another way of going forward without this prayer being answered.

But then to be able to pivot and say, but Father, you know better. I don't see everything that you see. I don't understand everything that you do. It's like a two-year-old child coming in and trying to say how we should run our family in life, right? They don't have the experience. They don't have the knowledge to be able to come and give us advice. And often, I'm the two-year-old child going to God and saying, I know how my life should be better. So how about we do it this way?

Jesus is showing us in this prayer, in this in the in the Sermon on the Mount, the relationship that God wants us to have with Him in the direction it should go. And so when we look at Matthew 7 again, and we consider when Jesus said, asking it will be given to you, this isn't a blank check that we can just go and say whatever is on our heart, whatever is on our desire. Because as a child, I've told you before what I wanted from my parents. It was ice cream at every meal, right? It was a dessert before we eat dinner. Salad, vegetables, not today.

Right? This is the life and this is the mindset that we have to go and do chores? No, I want to play. That sounds like what Mike Phelps wants to do right now and would be good for my life.

But did our parents let us just get away with whatever we wanted? Or did they say, I know this would do you more damage and more harm in the long run if I don't help you out here? Discipline.

Every one of our favorite things, right? As a child, get discipline, get in trouble by our parents.

These are the things that God provides in our life. And so when he says, ask and it will be given to you, seek it for everyone who asks, receives. And he uses this analogy. He's saying, you have to ask. I want to know, but we have to have a relationship here.

You have to understand what's best for you and to then trust me as your parent that I'll give you the good things of life. Let's look at another passage in 1 John. This is another passage that sometimes I believe very clearly is used out of context to say that all we have to do is ask. All we have to do is make a request of God and he'll honor it. Verse John 3 and verse 21.

The apostle John's writing his letter, and he says, Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence towards God. And whatever we ask, we receive from him. That's a big statement.

Whatever we ask, we receive him because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. Again, at the onset, this passage appears to say that if we're right with God and we're keeping his commandments, then whatever we ask of God, we will receive.

But again, let's walk through this passage, this time starting at 1 John 2 and verse 28. Because what is John's letter about? Who's he writing to and why is he writing and being inspired to go this direction? From the very beginning in 1 John 1, John is talking about our Lord and our Savior, his goodness, his majesty, his sovereignty, and his love. And he's talking about how through his love he gave of himself for all of humanity. And as he continues through this in chapter 2, he's talking about this same love that Christ has we should be developing in our own life.

That we should have a brotherhood, a sisterhood, where we are demonstrating that love that Christ shown through his sacrifice and his life. We should be showing the same way for one another.

In chapter 2 and verse 28, he says, And now little children abide in him, that when he appears we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him. And then in John's letter, there's no chapter break, so please don't think this is a change of thought. Let's just continue reading chapter 3 and verse 1, because it's a continuation of thought. Notice what he says, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God?

Again, it's going back to that other passage where Christ was saying as a good Father wants to give us good things. This is that relationship, again, that we have with God. John says, continues here, and says, Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know him. He says, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And then we get down in the same chapter into verse 12, and he talks about how, again, we are to love one another, we're to grow in this love with one another. And it brings us then, again, back to verse 22, where he says, Whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and to do the things that are pleasing to him. You will come across people who read these passages that we've shared from Matthew and from John, 1 John, and say, It's simple. Just ask God for what you need, and he will provide it. This thought is common on the Sunday worship channels that we might have on our TVs. It's common in a lot of YouTube videos. If you go out and you Google and you search for those, and these passages inspire people, and they get emotionally involved and say that these are great passages. I'm just going to go to God and tell him what is going on in my life that needs to be fixed, and he will fix them because he's awesome. God is awesome. But is this how God always works? Many of the commentaries are in agreement that God is not a genie in a bottle that has been created for your and my needs and wishes. His will must be a vital part that we consider in the equation, and it has to be understood. He loves us deeply and intimately, and he knows what's good and what's best for our lives. And as our perfect parent, he's looking at that big picture, what needs to happen in our lives so that we can transform and that we can grow. Given a child ice cream at every meal is not what's best for their health, right? That's common sense. We're not going to get into a big argument here after church today about the counter-sides that children should eat ice cream at every meal. We all agree with that. But yet, people get into arguments about why God doesn't heal and answer all these prayers when he promises and says he'll do it. Barnes notes, shares this, it says, we must have a proper spirit with humility, sincerity, and perseverance. That's a whole sermon in itself. We could just study those three things or four things, right? The proper spirit with humility, sincerity, and perseverance. Barnes goes on to say, it's implied also that we ask the things which may be consistent for God to give.

That is, things which he has promised to give which would be best for us. Matthew Henry's and a commentary in the Life Application Study Bible also shares similar statements.

Many times, God does answer our prayers, and he has delivered us from problems that we bring to him. We could all sit around after church today and talk about those things. We've all had answered prayers. We've seen things that he's intervened and he's done for us. We all have these experiences that we can look back on and know that he provided in a critical time for our needs.

But then comes the time when in our mind, he doesn't answer our prayer.

Now, that's a bummer of a point to be in life, right? Because we can say, well, God, you've done these things. You answer these prayers. You've opened these doors. Why are you not answering this one? How do we process what we feel is an unanswered prayer? How can we move forward in a positive way while we continue to build our relationship with God?

In order to reconcile the truth with scriptures that we looked at earlier, we also have to reconcile the life of the Apostle Paul. Did God love Paul? Absolutely.

Did Paul serve God with his entire heart? Yes, there's no question about that. Did Paul suffer some extreme hardships for God because of what God had asked him to do, where he sent him?

The answer is yes. And so would we question whether Paul had enough faith in God to heal him?

I don't think any of us would question Paul's conversion, Paul's faith, his confidence, or his trust in God. So how do we then understand what Paul himself wrote in 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 8?

2 Corinthians 12 and verse 8. The truth of the matter is, if we go to God and ask him for help in a health trial, and the answer is either no or not right now, the truth of the matter is we're not alone.

We actually share company with quite a few examples from even just the New Testament. We could go to the Old Testament and find the same similar examples, but when we consider the New Testament, there's plenty of examples of people like you and me with a close, well-established relationship with God who are not healed for a multitude of reasons, many of which we don't know. Paul is one of those. Here in 2 Corinthians 12 verse 8, he shares parts of his own story of his own health trial. We don't know exactly what this trial or health issue was, what he was dealing with, but he says in verse 8 concerning this thing, which he's referencing his health trial, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart for me.

Pleated is a strong word, and I think at times we've pleaded with God for health trials.

We've pleaded maybe for a loved one that was going through a difficulty. We've been brought to tears.

I can only imagine, as Paul says, I pleaded with the Lord. There's probably emotion and tears shared here, and it wasn't just one prayer, and he said, well, God didn't answer it, so I'm going to just keep on going with my life, but he goes, God, this is a big deal. This is important. He might have even talked with God, and I'm putting myself between reading a little bit between the lines here.

He might have even said, but God, if you healed me, let's say it was his vision. That's one idea it could have been. Maybe his vision was starting to cloud, as many of ours does as we get older, and he was having more difficulty writing or to read. Maybe he even said, God, if you heal this, imagine how much more work I could do for you. Imagine how much more clarity I could write. Imagine how much more effective I could share your word. I've tried to rationalize with God at different times in my walk with him. I've tried to say, but God, if you would heal me or heal this person, imagine how much more that person could do. I know them. I know they would stay involved. I know they would get more active. I know they would continue to run around like a mad person helping, but they can't. They're limited right now. Maybe Paul brought these things to God himself, and he said three times I pleaded with the Lord that it might depart from me, but what was the answer that Christ gave him? He said, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. We don't know if this was a verbal uttering that Christ gave Paul. We don't know if this was an idea that he planted in Paul's mind that was as much as if somebody would have said it to him. But Paul says that Christ said to him that his goodness, his mercy, his kindness, his help, his deliverance... I mean, we could keep going with the qualities of God that make up his grace. He said that's sufficient. That's enough for you to continue to go on with life, because your life's not over yet, Paul. He's saying, but my goodness, my steadfastness, my love for you is enough for you to continue to do the work that I've established in your heart, for me to continue to show you the plans that I have for you, and then for you to walk that journey. He's saying, that's enough. And Paul understood it, because he continued going forward saying, therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses. For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. And again, he's not talking about his own strength here. He's talking about that source of strength, which is Christ, which is our Father, which is the work that they're doing in us, that transformation, that outward display of God working in our lives. Again, are we going to go back? Are people ever going to now dodge? And Paul saying that he didn't have enough faith? I mean, are we going to get on that box? Because that's a whole other box to be standing on that now says that Paul didn't have enough faith in his God for him to be healed of his diseases. I think we have to let this sit as one of those answers from Scripture that helps us interpret the rest of Scripture. Because I can't stand here and say that Paul was lacking in any of the spiritual aspects or characteristics that God wants us each to develop, and that's why God didn't heal Paul. Was there a reason? Absolutely there is a reason. God knows that reason. Why didn't he heal Paul? Simply because he did not choose to heal Paul.

But you may think or some may think, well, that's not fair. We just read through the Scriptures that said God says if we ask him and these are good things and he's a loving Father, then he will provide for our needs. You know what's fair? What is it that we all deserve?

You want to talk about fair? I know what my life and the choices I've made has brought on me.

Do I deserve God's grace? Have I done something so fantastically awesome that I deserve his mercy?

Or have I served his people so fully that I've somehow earned a right to come and say, hey, I need this from you now, God? What have I ever given God to equate to something where he says, you know what, Mike? Yeah, I now owe this to you.

What we deserve is death. We know that. What we deserve is separation from God.

But thankfully, God doesn't give us what we deserve. If God were to simply answer every one of our prayers exactly the way that we prayed them, again, he would be no different than a genie in a bottle. That we would rub the lamp, he would pop out, we would make our wish that I want ice cream for every meal, and then God would have to provide it, right? A supreme person in the universe is ordained to grant us all of our wishes.

But he's not a genie. He's the perfect, loving Father who cares for us deeply, and he looks over every intimate detail of our lives.

This is why we can't just cherry pick scriptures and say that if someone had enough faith, then God would heal them of their health trial. What we need to understand is that the answers to the things we pray about are deeply related to God's will for our lives.

If our sights, if your sights are only focused on healing or something else that you want from God, then you may not be able to see what else God is doing and the desires that he has for your life.

It's kind of like living with blinders on, right? The blinders they put on horses, so they keep them on the path, they keep them from being distracted. If we walk through life with blinders on, that the only thing that we can see in front of us is God's healing, his answer. We pray this, we need you to answer it this way, God. If that's all that we can see and that's all that our vision is focused on, we'll miss all these other details of the things that he's doing in our lives, where he's positioning us, the other answered prayers that he's answering, the other ways that he is supporting us, the people he sends along our path that is there to do nothing but give us encouragement.

We could go on and on and on about all these other things in ways that God provides for our needs and our times like this, but if the only thing we're focused on is just that he has to heal me right now, we could miss everything else that he is doing. That's a dangerous place to be.

Did Paul lack faith and that's why his health problems were never healed?

No, but God said that his grace was sufficient for Paul and that through God's strength, Paul would be made perfect in his weakness.

And then Paul says, I'll take it. That's a hard place to find ourselves when we come to that reality, isn't it? But when we finally come to that point where we're like, it's okay.

You're right. His, your grace is sufficient and I don't have any clue where my life would be without it.

I think we could think now that it's not in my nose, but where would our lives be without his grace? That's a scary place to go, isn't it? It's a scary place to let our minds start to go down that path. We can become so consumed with this answer to this prayer that I need you, God, to answer. And I think I know the best way that we can lose sight that we have his grace with us every moment of every day. I want to pivot a little bit and answer the other question I asked earlier.

I wonder what the person did or what sin is going on in their life that God is choosing not to heal them. The idea that illness is the result of sin is a common belief that has existed for a very long time. At times, God did bring illness upon his people for punishment of their sins. But I think the scriptures that we read through that demonstrate this show that he reserves this for quite unique circumstances and times. God often gave specific instructions for his people to follow in a way that they did not follow them. God would sometimes bring a plague upon his people.

This has led people to more broadly apply that illness is the result of sin. But is this always the case? We do know that some sins do bring on illnesses, right? If you continue to be an alcoholic, then in time it will affect your liver and you'll have liver disease. If you permit or if you commit sexual sins and there's a high risk, you're going to get a sexual disease. These are causes and effect. These are choices people make, and then there's a life-altering impact that occurs. But we also know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's from Romans 3 verse 23. None of us are without sin. None of us have lived perfect lives, and even after being baptized, none of us with God's Spirit now have figured everything out. And yet, you and I do not get zapped or we do not get punished with a physical disease or illness every single time we sin. Again, this concept or idea has been around for a long time, and it even existed during Jesus' day, which he had to address. Turn with me to John chapter 9.

You might be surprised to find out that judgmental people existed during Jesus' time.

Sometimes we think that it's just today, right? Just society today has judgmental people. No.

The more you study into this topic, the more you study into the mindsets of God's people, the Jewish faith at this time of Christ's life, the more layers of judgmental aspects or judgmental thought you find almost baked in to his people at this time. It's really all over the place. And Jesus had to address it a few different times. Notice John 9 verse 1. It says, It says, Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sent this man or his parents that he was born blind? Tell me where this idea came from. I mean, you see somebody struggling, and the first thing that you're going to ask Jesus is, so what did they do? Was it them or was it their parents? What created this illness?

I mean, that's a pretty bold way to go straight into an accusation or into a judgment, because somebody obviously had to sin, or this man would not have been born blind.

And Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sin, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I'm going to read several of the commentaries on this passage, because they explain it very, very well. And I don't want to try to recreate what is already a good explanation.

Barnes notes on the Bible, and also Adam Clark's commentary references a similar thought. Barnes says, It was a universal opinion among the Jews that calamities of all kinds were the effects of sin. The case, however, of this man, that he was born blind from birth, and it was a question of which the disciples could not determine whether it was his fault or that of his parents.

Many of the Jews, as it appeared from their writings, believe that the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, or that the souls of man in consequence of sin, might be compelled to pass into other bodies and to be punished there. It's kind of crazy when you think about the Jews at the time, God's people had the scrolls, they had the Old Testament writings, yet somehow they mingled in and layered in with that other thoughts, things that go contrary to Scripture, but they did.

There's multiple accounts, multiple commentaries that bring this in. Barnes goes on to say, They also believe that an infant might sin before it was born, and that consequently this blindness might have come upon the child as a consequence of that. It was also a doctrine with many that the crime of the parent might be the cause of a deformity in the child. It's a tough place to be as a parent, dealing with maybe a child that you have that's born with a disability, and then the eyes come onto you. Or what did your child do before it was even born? I mean, this is a...

It's hard to read this at times and think about how did people find themselves here?

But then I have to go back and say, well, those questions that I asked at the beginning, those questions that were continued to answer, they sometimes still pop up in the Church of God today.

Matthew Henry's concise commentary shares this on the passage. It says, This poor man could not see Christ, but Christ saw him. And if we know or apprehend anything of Christ, it is because we were first known of him. Christ says of uncommon calamities that they are not always to be looked on as special punishments of sin. Sometimes they are for the glory of God and to manifest His work. What an amazing God that we serve, that at times in the struggles and in the facts of just going through life, He can use that for His own glory. He can use that so that at the end of the day, more people praise Him. And it's not that He needs to praise. He's not sitting there and saying His praise level meter has dropped too low. And so let's go perform a miracle so that everybody will clap hands and praise God for His goodness. But He's saying to show His works and that He exists and He is real. He continues to perform miracles today.

The Life Application Study Bible shares this, and I think it really brings it down to where we can take this kind of heart today. A common belief in Jewish culture was that calamity or suffering was a result of some great sin. But Christ used this man's suffering to teach about faith and to glorify God. We live in a fallen world where good behavior is not always rewarded and bad behavior not always punished. Therefore, innocent people sometimes suffer. If God took suffering away whenever we asked, we would follow Him for comfort and convenience. Kind of like that genie, right? If God took away suffering whenever we asked, we would follow Him for comfort and convenience, not out of love and devotion. Regardless of the reasons for our suffering, God has the power to help us deal with it. When you suffer from a disease, tragedy, or disability, try not to ask, why did this happen to me or what did I do wrong? Instead, ask God to give you strength for the trial and a clearer perspective on what is happening. The example that we have here in John is not the only time Jesus had to counter this incorrect thought. Turn with me to Luke chapter 13.

It'd be nice if Jesus only ran into one judgmental group, but He didn't.

Luke chapter 13 and verse 1.

Here's another in this passage. It opens up with these people who Pilate had killed. Most likely, they were Galileans, so they were Jews. They were probably more of maybe a rebellious group, that countered Pilate and would create a promise for him. And so, maybe during one of the holy day seasons, when they came to offerings, he took that as an opportunity to bring an end to their life. Because Luke opens up here, and Jesus opens up in Luke 13 verse 1, saying, there were present at this, let me start over, there were present at that season some who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifice. So Pilate had these people killed. And Jesus answered and said to them, do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. So obviously, Jesus is showing that we're not to stand in judgment other people. These Galileans were killed, and that others were standing around wondering, maybe it was having a side chat about why God would permit that or what they must have done to deserve that. But then Christ spends it back, and where does he put the emphasis on? Not on the Galileans or that they died, but he says, what's your life going to come to? What will your life be made up of? And he goes on with another example. Or those 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them. Do you think that they were worse sinners than all the other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

This would have probably been one of the evening news articles, right? Tower in Siloam Falls, 18 people killed. It was a talk of the town. They were wondering what caused it, whose fault is it, and what about those poor people on the tower?

Why would God allow that to happen to them?

Seems like a judgmental group of people that Christ is dwelling with here, that he's having to help see the other side of these things. Like I mentioned, occasionally these same questions pop up in our midst when someone is suffering or going through a difficulty or these things are seen. But in these examples, Jesus is imploring them to shift their thoughts away from these people and what they had done in their lives or not done to their own lives.

He's saying, don't worry about what other people have done or not done. I know where they're at. I've got that taken care of. But worry about yourself, because it's so easy for us to look at other people's lives or the struggles they're going through or to wonder. Or maybe even for us to backseat, drive, and to say, well, I can see their situation more clearly than they can because they're clouded by their own whatever, brokenness, their own struggles, or how long they've been stuck in it. And because I can see more clearly, it's obvious this is why they're going through their trial. We may not say it out loud, right? But have these thoughts ever entered your mind. Christ, in these examples, is saying, shift your thoughts away from everybody else and worry about me and you right now. Worry about us. Instead of trying to answer these questions, ask yourself, how are you doing? As King Solomon wrote, all things come alike to all.

He goes through in Ecclesiastes 9, verse 2, that events happen to the righteous, they happen to the wicked, the good deeds, the clean, the young clean, all these things happen to all these different people. As the good happens, it also happens to the sinner. In verse 11, he says, but time and chance happens to them all, right? We realize there's an element of time and chance that occurs in all of our lives. God, we don't wake up one day and God says, well, it's time to give this person a trial, so here's a health issue. That's not what we really see, how God works the vast majority of the time. Often, we can look at the causes or we can try to understand there's the environment around us, there's problems with our food, there's, we can go down the whole list of all these issues and the diseases that people are dealing with.

So, in a way, time and chance occurs. But this is where time and chance pivots away, is that we have a God who sees our lives and he knows exactly what we're going through.

The simple fact is that death is a part of the life experience because of the initial sin that occurred in the garden. Even those healed in Scripture, and we can again read example after example. It's not just those who weren't healed. We can read all the examples of people who were healed, but they all later died of natural causes because we do not yet have eternal life in these mortal bodies. Jesus had the opportunity to explain why the Galileans and those in the tower of Siloam died. He could have just laid it all out there. This is why it was permitted to happen.

But he didn't give that answer. He remained silent on the matter, just like he often remains silent on why we suffer from health issues today. So if God remains silent about why other people are going through health trials, I think we would show wisdom to remain silent ourselves. There's so much we could do for others in these moments that would be so much more powerful for them and helpful so much we could pray about their situation that would be a blessing for others.

And these things I think God would rather us do and would bless tremendously more.

As we wrap up, receiving a no or a not right now from God is often a very hard answer to receive.

But the truth is that this decision by God offers an opportunity for spiritual growth that a yes from God would never have provided. We all want to grow in Godly character because we know we have that having His character will lead to happier physical lives today and to become more like Christ in the end. In all ways, we are to become more like our Savior. And one of these ways is to take up our crosses daily, take up our burdens and our hardships daily, and to follow after Him.

Let's turn to Romans 5. Romans 5 and verse 1.

We read where Paul talked about in his letter to the church in Corinth about how he is okay going through the trials and tribulations. Like I often share with you, I don't think in the vast in the middle of a grinding trial Paul's like, yay me! I don't think he was doing that, right? It's usually after when you can look back and you say something has changed on the inside because I went through that and then now I can glorify God. And Paul talks about that again here in Romans. He talks about what comes from these trials. And when we read through this list, I don't think any of us wake up in our prayers and say, God help me to have more perseverance, help me to build a better character, right? Those are dangerous prayers to pray, right? Because that comes from hard things. But as we read through this, consider what Paul's saying again as he reflects on his life. He says, therefore, Romans 5 verse 1, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. What a beautiful summary of what God is doing in our lives and all the hope and the blessing and the grace that you and I have today. And then he pivots. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations. And this is where we're like, okay, pump the brakes, Paul. I was fine with the other aspects of your of God's grace and his salvation and all the things. But now you're saying that we rejoice. We have glory in tribulation. But he says we do. We have glory in tribulation. Why? Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, character and character, hope.

Again, these are qualities that if we just sat around as a group and said, I would love to have more perseverance. That would be a great thing to have. I think we'd all sit around and say, yes, that would be a great attribute to have. Where does perseverance come from?

We're about to watch the Olympics, if you're interested in that, here coming up.

These men and women, they didn't just wake up one day, strap on a pair of skis or a snowboard or skates, and then start competing at the Olympic level. Often in these next couple weeks, you're going to hear stories of perseverance, of overcoming, of accidents, of illnesses or injuries, and yet they have worked their way back to be where they're at now and in the Olympics.

These things that Paul is saying that comes, that we can glory in, we want, we deeply want these things. The struggle is that they often come through one way, and that's through difficulty.

But Paul is saying we can glory in these aspects knowing that they produce perseverance, they produce character, they produce hope, and he finishes in verse 5 saying, now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which he has given to us. Through all of this, we must remember that God remains sovereign.

He doesn't answer to you or to me. He doesn't answer to the physical powers or the physical forces of nature. He's not limited on what he can or he can't do. God and God alone possess the supreme and ultimate power over everything. But this doesn't change the fact that it's hard and very challenging when God's sovereignty and his sovereign will doesn't meet the desires of our hearts and when we go to him in prayer. Philippians 4 verse 6, and this will be our final passage for today, is another verse that can sometimes be used out of context or to support this idea that God will heal us if all we do is go and ask him. But if they don't continue reading, if someone doesn't continue reading to the next verse, they can be left with, yeah, simply that thought. Philippians 4 and verse 6.

Again, Paul writes, Be anxious for nothing. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew in the message, the Sermon on the Mount. Don't worry about things. God's got it all covered. Paul says, But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So some will use this and say, see, this is all you have to do. Just pray and ask God for it. But then Paul says, And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus. This is the peace God has placed in the believer's mind that enables us to move forward in life when it feels like our prayers are not being answered. This is the peace that surpasses understanding, as Paul says, and this is the exact peace we need to continue the journeys and these adventures of our life that will lead us straight to the kingdom of God.