Sometimes God Answers Our Prayers: "Not Now!"

There's any number of things we can talk about as to what we desire as Christians, but having this tremendous relationship with the Father, with our brother, having grown in the faith and growing in the faith, these are things that are very much on our hearts and minds. Let's take a look at Ephesians 4, where the Apostle Paul talks about this.

Over the years, I've looked at this particular verse that we're going to read, and I think this such an amazing verse. I think this verse epitomizes so much about what Christianity is all about. Ephesians 4, verse 13.

Ephesians 4, 13. "'Til we all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect or mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." So here we see both things I may mention of. The idea of having a tremendous relationship with the Father with our elder brother, Jesus Christ. We see that in the first part of this verse, the idea of growing to the unity of the faith, or in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God.

Well, for us to grow in that unity, for us to grow in that knowledge, there's got to be a relationship there. You know, I couldn't have had a relationship with Mary unless I got to know her, and to know her very well. And so part of growing in our love for each other is our getting to know each other and understand each other. To the place where, as many of you who were married a couple of many years, you can start a sentence and your mate can finish the sentence. We've all been there. We've seen that.

Or our mate may say something and you say, you know, that's interesting because I was just about to say that, or I was just thinking that same thought myself. You know, our minds become at one. And of course, the idea of going on to perfection, to a perfect man, a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that obviously is talking about spiritual growth. Now, God reveals in His Word a number of tremendous biblical tools that are available to us.

One of those biblical tools that's available to us is prayer. Prayer. We understand as Christians that when we pray to God, you know, if we have a close relationship with God, we're not talking about people who don't have any relationship with God at all. But as a Christian, with our relationship with God, we know that when we're praying to God, that God hears us. We're not perfect. God knows we're not perfect. That's why we've got the Passover. But God looks in our heart and as He sees we're striving to obey Him as best as we can, repenting where necessary.

God hears us. We know that God considers very carefully our words. Very carefully. We know that God will always act in our best interest when it comes to our prayers. He will act in our best interest because He loves us more deeply than you and I could ever begin to imagine. He loves us. But there are times, brethren, when we probably all have wondered, why isn't God answering my prayers? Why isn't God answering my prayers? Now, I'm going to make a bold statement. My bold statement is this.

God answers every one of your prayers. Every one. There are times we think our prayers aren't being answered because maybe a particular thing we asked for we haven't received. Or maybe we prayed for a brother or sister in a faith who's going through some trial and the trial's still ongoing. And we think, well, our prayer hasn't been answered.

Well, most of us in this room, all of us in this room, are members of a family. We all have physical families. Some of us are parents, some of us are grandparents, some of us are related to one another in various ways. And when we are working with our family and we are talking to our family and we maybe ask something of our family, sometimes the answer is no. No is an answer to prayer. And we're going to take a look at that a little bit later in the sermon.

So it's not just, yes, that shows God is answering our prayers. There are times God says no. But brethren, I'm not going to talk about the yes answer to the yes answer. Or the no answers today. Today, I want to highlight a third possible response to prayer. And that third response is not now. It's not a yes. It's not a no. But it is not now.

We know God is love. 1 John 4, verse 8. 2 John 4, verse 8. Is it loving to be rude to people? No. If you're asking God for various things and you're asking various things in your prayers, and God just says, you know what, I'm tired of listening to that person.

Or they're asking about such a teeny, tiny little thing. I'm just going to turn my back and walk off into the universe. I don't care what color salt shakers they buy. I don't care what color paint they put on their walls. And God says, you know, tough. I'm not going to deal with that.

If God were to do that, God would be pretty rude, wouldn't He? God is not rude. God answers every prayer from His children. Now, again, there are people in the world who are not Christians. Sometimes God will still answer their prayers only because of God's mercy and God's grace. God is not honor-bound to answer the prayers of people who are unconverted, who hate God or don't know God. But sometimes God will because of His own love for them. So, as God considers very carefully your request—and you can be thinking of things right now—chances are everybody in this room has something that they've asked God about or for, and you don't feel you've received an answer. Or at least the answer you were looking for, the answer you were hoping to get. But again, be encouraged. There is a section of Scripture here we're going to go through today that shows the answer of not now. Not now.

So, the heart of the question, brethren, is not whether or not God hears our prayers and answers them. He does. No ifs, ands, or buts. The heart of the question is really, does God always give us the answer we desire? Does God give us the answer we are looking for? Does God give us the answer in just the right way, at just the right time we want? That's really the issue at hand. And the answer to that is many times no. God doesn't give us the answer we desire or aren't we are looking for, or in a way or a time we're looking for. But again, God is all powerful and all wise. God is all loving. Everything He does is for our benefit.

So many times when I'm anointing somebody, I'll make comment that, you know, Father, this individual here we're anointing, they want to be healed right now. We as human beings, we want to be healed right now. There's nothing wrong with asking for that. But then I'll also add in the prayer, but, Father, we know that many times you delay the healing for various reasons. You want us to develop patience, or you want us to develop long suffering, compassion, or any number of things that may be your desire for us, and you don't answer the prayer immediately. And so in faith, we put this request at your feet, knowing your love for us, knowing that you do intervene and you have intervened in our life on so many occasions, we can't count them all. But we're going to put that prayer at your feet, realizing at the right time for us and those around us, that you'll answer that prayer in a way that's befitting for us. Let's take a look at 2 Corinthians 12. Because I just want to touch base on this. Here's an example of a no answer to an individual, and you know this section of scripture very, very well. 2 Corinthians 12. Here's a man, a minister of God of many, many years, very faithful, very obedient, giving his life for the church and for God, and yet he gets a no answer.

2 Corinthians 12. And lest I shall be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations. So, see, Paul understands why his prayer is not being answered. God is working in his life in a very important way. Wants to keep him humble. A thorn in the flesh was given to me. A messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I be exalted above measure.

I think there are a number of us in this room who have the same affliction, right? Do you have a thorn in the flesh? I've got all sorts of... I was the first time in my life I went to see a physical therapist yesterday. And, man, they turned me around and they poked and prodded and watched me walk and on my toes and on my heels and they stuck me on the couch and they were pulling this and pulling that and I thought I was a ewn pretzel by the time. I was in that room for an hour and fifteen minutes. All because I've got back problems.

I was about to tell them I didn't have as bad back problems before I went into that room because after I came out of that room.

But, you know, they said, well, if you had any kind of operations, I thought, well, how long we got here, folks? You know, I had a hernia, I had a appendix that exploded and you had to take my organs out, wash them, stick them back in my body, had cataracts, I had both my eyelids worked on, had open-heart surgery. You wanted me to go on? No, I've had all that stuff. I've seen the knife any number of times. But here's a man that had his thorn in the flesh and you've got yours. Verse 8, concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times. So here's a man who's fervent in his prayers. A man of faith, a man of obedience, a man of zeal, a man of action. Pleaded with the Lord three times and it might depart from me. And what did God say? And he said to me, got God's answer, my grace is sufficient for you. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. God said no. No. There's things you need to learn. There's an example that you need to set for others as they read this passage. When they feel discouraged or downhearted, when God's not healing them, sometimes people think, well, maybe it's my lack of faith or my lack of this or that or the other. May not be any of those things. Wasn't those things for Paul?

Paul then saw the value of what he was going through. He left having to ask God on a daily basis to get him through each day. Verse 9, Therefore, most gladly I would rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Now there's an attitude that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distress for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. And I am not weak, but I am strong. So sometimes God says no. We are very happy when God says yes, but sometimes God says no. Let's now take a look at a tremendous example. To me, a very encouraging and inspiring example we find over in Luke chapter 1. Let's go to Luke chapter 1.

Here in Luke chapter 1, we're going to become very well acquainted with the parents of John the Baptist.

Let's start here in verse 5. There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. So here we're seeing people here that were very righteous. We'll see that in just a moment. But we see a date stamp here to begin with. During the reign of Herod, king of Judea, this is the Herod that built the temple in Jerusalem.

A man who was also very paranoid, very brutal. And we see the man's name. This priest's name is Zacharias or Zacharias. Now, back in these days, parents would give their children names because those names stood for something. Because when the child was growing, he would think about his name and what that name pointed to. Jewish parents in those days would do just that thing. They wanted to bestow upon the child a name that had great meaning. And here, the grandparents of John the Baptist gave John's father the name Zacharias.

After the great prophet who lived 500 years before, Zacharias, who in his book talks about the coming Messiah, the coming Kingdom of God, the taking off of the yoke of the oppressor, perhaps John the Baptist's grandparents felt, well, you know, maybe our son Zacharias, maybe he can be a part of all of that. Maybe he can be a part of that.

What does Zacharias name mean? And this is something we want to keep in mind as we go through the story. Zacharias means remembered by God. Remembered by God. Please keep that in mind. It's a very important piece of information. We also see here in verse 5 that he was of the division of Abijah. As you are well aware, you're a well-schooled bunch in the Scriptures. There were so many priests that David, about a thousand years before, had to take and organize the priests into divisions or courses. Because you couldn't have all the priests—there were so many thousands of them—you couldn't have them all come on a regular basis to the temple to do the work. So in 1 Chronicles 24—we won't turn there—but in your notes, 1 Chronicles 24 verses 1-19, we see that near the end of King David's life, he's making preparations for the temple that Solomon would build. There were these 24 courses. Each course served in a temple for one week, twice a year. The cycle started immediately after the Feast of Tabernacles. And for the feast and Unleavened Bread, for Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles, all the priests came and served during those three times of the year. There were so many offerings to be done, and so on and so forth, you need a tremendous manpower. So those three times of the year, you would have all the priests come.

Now, as it turns out, by God's hand in history, Zacharias, or Zachariah, his term fell in early December to mid-June.

Early December would be one time of the year, and the other time of the year would be mid-June. So, why is that important? Why is that important? His wife Elizabeth is going to conceive—right, and we'll see this later on—at the end of his first course. She conceives in late June. Nine months later, John is born in March. Why is that important? Because Mary, as we would see in this chapter, was three months pregnant when John was born. So John's born in March. Six months from then, because Mary is already three months pregnant, six months from March brings us to where? Brings us up to September, maybe October. What does that tell us? What does that tell us? That tells us Christ wasn't born on December 25th, doesn't it? That tells us Jesus Christ was probably born either in September or October. There's one other thing we see here in verse 5, and that's that Zachariah's wife's name was Elizabeth.

Or in Hebrew, Elishavah. And what did her name mean? Her name means Oath of God. Oath of God. So you've got two people here, Zachariah, whose name means remembered by God. You've got Elizabeth, whose name means Oath of God. Again, that's very important information for us as we go through the story here. Verse 6, And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and the ordinance of the Lord blameless. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well-advanced in years.

Now, in this society, you know, people took very seriously the words in Genesis 1, verse 28, where it says, be fruitful and multiply. And if you weren't having kids, then the word on the street would be, you may look good, you may seem righteous, but there's something wrong in your life. There's some kind of sin. There's something wrong with you as to why you couldn't have children. And poor Zachariah and Elizabeth had to deal with that for years and years. They were asking God. It says here, they were righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and the ordinance of the Lord. They were true believers. They were righteous people. They were living the way God wanted to live, and they still weren't having children. And people began to talk. They began to rumor. You know, Israelites are famous for that. So, year after year goes by, decade after decade goes by, and there's a lot of heartache associated with this, an awful lot of heartache associated with this. Now, of course, you can think of other examples like Abraham and Sarah. You can think of Samuel's mother, people who waited a long, long time before God said, well, we were saying, I was saying not now, but now I'm saying now. Now is the case. Let's go back to the story. Verse 8. So it was while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priest that his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord, and a whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. So here it is, this man's chance, and we're going to read a little bit later. Well, I'll read it right now from the Expositor's Bible Commentary. From the Expositor's Bible Commentary, and I quote, each of the 24 divisions served in the temple for one week, twice a year, as well as the major festivals. An individual priest, however, could offer the incense at the daily sacrifice only once in his lifetime. Only once in his lifetime, since there were so many priests. Therefore, this was a climactic moment of Zachariah's priestly career, perhaps the most dramatic moment possible for the event described to have occurred. His lot falls to be in that temple at precisely the time needed by God to discuss him now having his prayers answered. After decades of what seemed to be a no answer, but it wasn't a no answer, it was a not now answer. So, now is his time. And as the people are gathered outside to pray for the offering of incense, Zachariah takes the bowl of incense, goes into the temple to offer the incense, representing the prayers of God's people. He's in front of that altar. He's looking at the curtain and I made mention to you before in a sermon not long ago that the temple complex was really something to see in Jerusalem. It really stood out in that city. 35 acres. 35 acres. The temple itself was the height of a 15-story building. That's big! That's very big! 15-story building. The veil itself was as high as a six-story building. It was 60 feet high. It was 30 feet wide. It was four feet thick because they took 72 different pieces of cloth and wove them together. They said it'd be about the width of the man's hand, palm of his hand. Josepha said that whenever they had to take that down or do something with it or put a new one up, it would take over 300 priests to do that. That veil probably weighed several tons.

Of course, we realize when Christ died, that veil was torn from the top to the bottom. As we talked about in that sermon that I gave a while back, maybe that represented God showing his mourning, his grief over what Jesus Christ had been going through and went through, just like people tarred toward their garments in the Old Testament to show grief. Maybe that was God's way of showing grief at that particular time. So here Zachariah is praying. He's doing his job. We know from the Mishnah, which is a written collection of Jewish oral traditions, and what they generally said in those prayers. Now, you might say, well, you know, Mr. Delzandro, do we know word for word? The answer to that is no, we don't know word for word. But the Jewish people were pretty good at making sure things were pretty letter perfect.

And part of that prayer that Zachariah would have been praying would be this. Send us the one who will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.

Send us the one who will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.

And at that moment, something else happened. Let's look at verse 11.

Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zachariah saw him, he was troubled, and the fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zachariah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

So the prayer is now being, is not, no, the prayer now is a not-yet-prayer being fulfilled. Here's a man whose name is remembered by God, whose wife's name is Oath of God, and he's going to have a child, John, and his name John means God is a gracious giver.

Now to me, that brings chills up and down my spine, because the machinery that put all this in place was over a thousand years old, and now the prayer is being answered. So, brethren, there are times in our life when it's not yes, it's not no, it's not now, or not yet. And I say that to encourage you, because I know that some of you here are going through some tremendous trials you want out of those trials, and don't give up your hope, because our God is a God who intervenes at a time that's best for us.

Best for us.

There's some lessons to be learned here. Let's put all this together. Lesson number one.

God's view of time is not our view of time. God's view of time is not our view of time. As I said, so many times when I'm giving an anointing, I say, you know, we want to be healed right now. But that may not be what God wants. That may not be what's best. That may not be God's will. So we always have to make sure that we also add to that, but, Father, your will be done. Your will be done.

In your notes, you might want to jot down 2 Peter 3 and verse 8, where it says, And again, look at the context. God is using that system of timing that had been set up over a thousand years earlier at the end of King David's reign. A thousand years later, an angel is talking to Zacharias, that priest who had for decades been asking for a son, not getting a son, and not giving up hope, and not walking away from his priestly duties, or walking away from God, being still very diligent. What does that show about our God regarding time? It shows our God is not a God of chance. Our God is a God of priesthood. Our God is a God of precision and planning and perfection in everything he does. Precision, planning, and perfection. He is a God who is always faithful. He remembers your faithfulness, your obedience, and, yes, your many heartfelt fervent prayers.

He doesn't forget. He doesn't forget.

Luke chapter 18. Let's take a look over there. We're going to come back to chapter one here, put a marker there. Let's look at Luke chapter 18 and verse one. Luke 18 and verse one. Very fitting for the example we're giving here today in services.

Then he spoke of Luke 18 verse one. Then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Not lose heart. Zachariah and Elizabeth didn't lose heart.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 17. Let's turn there. 1 Thessalonians 5.17.

1 Thessalonians 5.17. Pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. 2 Thessalonians 5.17. Pray without ceasing. Lesson one, God's view of time is not our view of time. Lesson number two, God doesn't forget. God doesn't forget. You and I forget, but God doesn't forget. Remember Zachariah's name, remembered by God. God remembered faithful Zachariah and Elizabeth. Let's take a look at Malachi chapter 3.

Malachi chapter 3 verses 16 and 17.

Malachi 3.16. Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. Well, certainly that's true of Zachariah and Elizabeth. They feared the Lord. They spoke to one another. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord, who meditate on his name. A book of remembrance. God doesn't forget. Verse 17.

Lesson number three, God is loving and gracious. What was John's name? John's name is God is a gracious giver.

God is a gracious giver. Let's look at Psalm 112.

Psalm 112 verse 4.

Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness. There is hope for the people of God. Unto the upright there is light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous.

So we worship a gracious God, a loving and gracious God. Lesson number four.

Lesson number four. Let's go back to Luke chapter one.

Okay, we'll read about lesson number four. Luke chapter one verses 14 through 17. Luke one verse 14. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice in his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall drink neither wine or strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedience of the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Not only were they to have a son, oh what a son! Look at the son gave them! After all those decades, after all those years, God answered their prayers exceeding what they may have expected. This wasn't a child that had all sorts of health issues because the parents were so aged. This wasn't a child that was going to die in birth or something like that. What a son!

The son that brings, verse 14, joy and gladness. A son that will be, as it says in verse 15, great in the sight of the Lord. Boy, what does that mean? We're not talking about being great in the sight of people. We're talking about being great in God's sight. Now that's a son!

Verse 16, this son will turn many to God. This was not any ordinary son. This was something really very special that's taking place here. Verse 17 talks about how he'll have a very special mission in life.

Wow! Does God know how to answer prayers? Yes, and those prayers sometimes are the ones that are prayers that are the not now or not yet prayers. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 20. Ephesians 3 and verse 20.

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think above all that we ask or think. I can think a lot of stuff. I can think of some pretty great things. But it says God can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we may ask or think according to the power that works in us. According to God's Holy Spirit. Wow! Fifth lesson. Let's go back to Luke chapter 1 again.

I've only got six of these, so we're almost done. Let's go back to Luke chapter 1. The fifth lesson is this. Be careful how you receive your long-awaited answer.

Be careful how you receive your long-awaited answer. Yes, you can still be a person of tremendous faith and obedience, but sometimes we let down. Sometimes we act in a way that we're not really proud of because we're human. We're going to see that here in Zechariah. Verse 18, Luke 1.18. And Zechariah said to the angel, How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years. Basically, Zechariah is saying to the angel, Would you get a good look at me? And how about my wife? Are you kidding me? We're going to have a kid?

Come, come now, as they used to say back in the olden days.

Verse 19. And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you know, but behold, you'll be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time.

Let's drop down to verse 62 to add something to this thought. Verse 62.

So they made signs to the Father what He would have called. So they made signs to His Father what He would have Him called. So not only is Zachary here made mute, but verse 62 seems to indicate He was going to be deaf as well. They had to use sign language, because He probably wasn't hearing the way He should have heard.

Now, by way of contrast, by way of contrast, let's look at verse 45. Talking about Mary, verse 45.

Blessed is she who believed, for there will be fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord. So there's an interesting commentary. This is from the expositive Bible commentary about the angel talking to Zachariah and his response and the angel talking to Mary in her response. I'll quote here from expositors. Zachariah's question in verse 18 seems innocent, but verse 20 reveals that it was asked in doubt.

In Mary's question, how can this be in verse 34, arises from faith. Mary simply inquired as to the way God worked things out. Zachariah questioned the truth of the revelation. Apparently, he wanted a sign.

And, you know, we can look, you understand what Christ says in the scriptures about people who need signs.

The gospel requires a response of faith, and Zachariah, of all people, should have believed without question what the angel told him. But he had a momentary lapse there of weakness. It didn't mean John wasn't going to be born. John was going to be born. But there were consequences for our actions. We talked about that. I think Mr. Christiansen brought that up in our Bible study this last week. There are consequences for our actions. And because Zachariah had a momentary lapse, there were consequences for his actions. Lesson number six. Last lesson to be learned here.

God's faithful people will be vindicated. God's faithful people will be vindicated.

Let's turn back to Luke chapter 1.

Let's listen to what the mom has to say here. We've talked a lot about the dad. What does Elizabeth have to say here? Luke chapter 1 verses 24 and 25. After those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she hid herself, five months, saying, Thus the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked upon me to take away my reproach among people. To take away my reproach among people. Remember we said how a couple like this back in those days if you didn't have kids there was something wrong with you, you were some kind of sinner. There was just absolutely something. It couldn't be anything else because God blesses righteous people. And if you're not being blessed, you're not being righteous. Well, notice what she says. And God looked on her to take away my reproach among the people. This woman who had been looked down upon for so long, people whispered about, people sure she had to be punished because she was childless. She is now vindicated. She gave birth to one of the greatest individuals in biblical history. She gave birth to one of the greatest individuals in church history. And of course, Zacharias and Elizabeth had to be substantial spiritual people to teach John as John was growing. So, brethren, I gave this message today. I can't take full credit for it. I heard a lot of this in the class I'm taking with Scott Ashley. But when I when I when he went through this material, I was just so taken by it. I just want to make sure I gave it to you. Because it was it's such a tremendous example of how God works with us and how he encourages us and how there are times when even when we think our prayers aren't being answered, that's not the case necessarily. It might be the case where the answer is, well, let's wait a little bit and down the road there may be an answer for you. Maybe the answer is no, but maybe it's not no. And so that's why we want to keep on walking in faith, walking in obedience in our love for our great God.