Why Doesn't God Answer All of Our Prayers? Part 3

Well, again, Happy Sabbath. A few weeks ago, we discussed the question of why God doesn't answer all of the prayers of His people, even when we have faith. I know it was a few weeks ago and, unfortunately, this snow kind of slowed down our series here.

We ended last time talking about Hebrews 11, and we saw that numerous individuals possessed great examples of faith. Today we're going to have part three in our final part on the series of faith. By the time I get to the end of this sermon, I think you will see the method to my madness on why I spent so much time on the discussion of faith.

Three whole sermons to discuss this very important issue. We saw in Hebrews 11 that it said there were great biblical patriarchs. You may remember specifically people of tremendous faith, like Abel, and it mentions Enoch, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Sarah. And here's what it said about every one of these people who had said were examples of great faith. In verse 13, it said, These all died in faith, not having received the promises. So they were faithful.

They were so faithful, they are put out as examples in Hebrews 11 of people of great faith. And every one of those people whose names I just mentioned were listed in Hebrews 11, it says, They all died in faith, not having received the promises. But having seen them afar off, something that was going to occur yet in the future, having seen them afar off, they were assured of them, they embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. So rather than a pickup where we left off last time, the faith of these individuals was their firm reliance on a God whom they knew to be trustworthy and keep his promises.

Sometimes we pray for others, and God chooses not to intervene. Sometimes we may ask God to do something, and his answer may be no, and even some of the people that we pray for, they may die. What Hebrews is telling us is that the real answer is yes.

Because, again, God looks at things from the long term, but we tend to look at things in the short term because we're just physical. And as I said earlier in another sermon, the things that we seek are longevity and comfort in this life. What God seeks in us is building an eternity.

And those are two totally different things when we understand the richness and the wonder that God has and that God is. What Hebrews is telling us again is that the real answer is yes. Their healing will come in a resurrection when they are welcomed into the kingdom of God and earth. They died in faith not having received the promise of healing in this physical lifetime, but afar off in their resurrection. They are assured that your prayers for them will be heard. So those whom we loved in the last few months who have died in the faith, though it may appear to us that God said no, what God really said was yes.

But what God said is remember that like all the other people of great faith, they died not having received the promises, but they could see the fulfillment afar off. They were assured of them. They embraced God's way of life. And they understood that their purpose in this world was to be a stranger and a pilgrim in the kingdom that exists now, that is the kingdom of man, controlled by the prince of the power of the air.

So let's continue to ponder why God may not answer the prayers of his faithful children in a way that we desire. Let's go to James 1 and verse 2. If you'll turn there with me, James chapter 1 and we'll begin in verse 2. We don't like to talk about trials, do we? I don't. We don't like to talk about suffering. As I said, we like to talk about comfort. Because as human beings, we are wired for a desire and the need to be comfortable. James chapter 1 and verse 2, he said, My brother, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

Now that's a hard one. I usually count it all grumpiness when I fall into a trial. I don't deal with those very well. He says, Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Has your faith been tested? Did you pray for someone who died? Did you pray to overcome an issue you're struggling with and you're still struggling with that issue? He says, The testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. You see, one of the things that we need to learn as physical human beings is that everything needs to be done on God's time. And sometimes that's God's law.

What's the word I'm looking for? God's time lag. The word I was looking for. We're physical. We want it now. But God says, not yet. Be patient. Hang in there. Be patient. This is a test. Be faithful. Be patient. Verse 5, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who douses like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive any word.

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. So what James is saying here is that there's a purpose behind trials.

There's a purpose behind God's time delay. God's time delay is the difference between when we want it and when God says, okay, I'll do it. There's a difference between those. Jesus warned in Luke chapter 21 and verse 19. He said, By your patience, possess your souls. But God, I want it now. It has to happen now. God, where are you? God, why aren't you hearing my prayers? And Jesus said again, in your patience, by your patience, possess your souls. It's so easy for us to become frustrated when God doesn't respond to our prayers and our immediate needs. But don't let that ever convince you that God doesn't care or that God isn't listening. God's timing is perfect, and he wants us to learn to patiently trust him, to patiently wait on him. Brethren, we don't learn to trust God when times are good and blessings flow like water. We don't learn to trust God during those episodes in our lives. We only learn to deeply trust God when we are put into a situation that we don't understand or a situation that we don't like what's happening. And I might add, it's also during those times of trial that our impurities that were there all along, bubble to the surface. When we're being tested, when we're being challenged, that's when the impurities that we have, the lack of patience, maybe a lack of faith, maybe angry towards God, whatever those imperfections may be, that's when those are exposed and they bubble up to the surface. Let's go to Hebrews 5 and verse 5.

See what the author of the book of Hebrews said about a trial that Jesus Christ suffered and the physical sufferings that he endured and if there was a purpose for them. Because if there was a purpose for Jesus Christ's suffering, then that means there is certainly a purpose behind our suffering and our trials. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 5. So also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest, but it was he, that is the Father, who said to him, you are my son, the dad begotten you, as he also says in another place, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

So he says to Jesus Christ that you are a priest far better than the Levitical priesthood. That was just a physical priesthood. It was the lineage of Levi. But before there was Levi, there was Melchizedek. And as a matter of fact, the one who eventually spawned Levi was Abraham, and he tied the Melchizedek, which makes it a superior priesthood, something Jesus Christ fulfilled. And that's just a fascinating and interesting story about the history of Melchizedek. Time for another sermon. But continue in verse 7, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with the eminent cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his godly fear, and here's the key verse 8, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.

That's what it says about Jesus Christ. Though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things he suffered. You are a son or a daughter of the Father. And just like Jesus Christ, we learn obedience through the things that we suffer. And sometimes the things that we suffer are unanswered prayer, or maybe prayer not answered in just the way that we wanted it, or just the way that we hope, or as soon as we want that prayer answered. Verse 9, and having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

So it says it was that suffering that made him perfect. Verse 10, called by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Here's what the Believer's Study Bible says about verses 8 and 9. It says, quote the phrase, learned obedience through the things that he suffered does not mean Jesus Christ was ever disobedient, but rather that he learned through experience as a man and through all his temptation and suffering what it meant to suffer and triumph in a way he did not experience before his incarnation.

His humanity was in this sense completed, which is the meaning of the Greek word translated, perfected in this context. It was his humanity that suffering occurred, that took Jesus Christ, to use a modern phrase, to a whole new level. And that's what takes us spiritually to a whole new level when we go through trials, when we go through suffering. What this verse is saying is that even though Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, he was perfected by experiencing human suffering, by going to God on his knees as father and praying, by shedding tears, which he certainly did, by the grief he felt when he saw other people suffer, when he thought of Jerusalem and just wanted to put his arms around the city and protect it like a mother hen, because he knew in 70 AD what the Romans would do to all of those people and do all of those buildings.

He suffered grief and sadness and physical pain, as I said a few weeks ago, when those nails were ramped through his hands and through his feet, he felt pain just like you and I feel pain. The same is true of us, brethren. We can learn eternal values through suffering, and that's the purpose of it. We can learn unwavering faith, no matter what our physical senses tell us, patience overcoming doubt, having a total reliance on God by how we experience our own humanity and by the things that we suffer.

I'd like to answer a few questions. Over the years, people have asked me many questions about healing, about faith, about what God says regarding biblical faith, so I just thought I would have a little bit of a Q&A, a little bit of question and answers for the remainder of this sermon, in the next 25 minutes or so. Here's one question I'm often asked. I usually, in the sermons on faith, talk about having a life mission and talking about having a mission in life, and when that mission is completed, that oftentimes God may allow us to die. Whatever God's mission is different than what we want our mission to be. As I've said before, in a humorous way, if you want to make God laugh, just tell him what your plans are. So God's mission for us is usually far different than our own mission. So people have asked me, can we beseech God to extend our lives beyond the completion of our earthly mission? And of course, the answer to that question is, He's God. He can do anything. And that's why we continue to pray. Sometimes, even though all the evidence is against something, that's why we continue to pray. It isn't over until God says it's over. And that's regarding someone on their deathbed, or someone going through a difficult trial in their lives, or their marriage is stressed, or their finances are stressed. It isn't over until God says it's over. Turn to Isaiah 37. I'd just like to give you an example of how sometimes, how merciful and compassionate God is. Isaiah 37. I'll give you a little background. Hezekiah was the great grandfather of Josiah. We talked about Josiah the reformer. Remember him a few weeks ago? Well, this is his great-grandpa. And he faced his own issues. He had an aggressive conqueror, Sennacherib, who was the king of Assyria, who was coming down to Judah, and he was taking no prisoners. A very vicious individual. He had besieged the city of Leshish. He had sent messengers to Jerusalem. By this time, he boasted of conquering 46 walled cities and taking 200,000 captives, and he was at the gates of Jerusalem. And he gloated, which is always a mistake when you're messing with the God of Israel, and he gloated about his own greatness. And the prophet Isaiah went to God, and God decided that Sennacherib would not conquer the city of Jerusalem.

The prophet announced that he would hear a rumor and return to his own land, where he would die by the sword. And that's recorded in 2 Kings chapter 19 and verse 7. And here's what it says.

Isaiah 37, I asked you to turn there in verse 36. Then the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians, 185,000. And when people arose in the morning, there were corpses all dead. So it was obviously a very fast-spreading virus that went through the camp of the Assyrians that night and wiped out 185,000 people. Verse 37, so Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. And it says in verse 38, as he was worshiping, the two of his sons came and struck him down with the sword, and another son took his place. And sure enough, even secular history records that had happened. Now let's get back to Hezekiah, who was witnessing all of this. Hezekiah was a good king. He was a reformer, and he worked hard to get idolatry out of Judah. But God had already decided at this point in time to eventually punish Judah for her sins. Hezekiah had served well, God. He had been very faithful, but his mission was done. And God decided that it was time to bring in another king who would lead Judah down its inevitable path of destruction. So we're going to pick it up here in chapter 38 in verse 1. In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, went to him and said to him, thus says the Lord.

I might add, you don't get much more powerful than that statement. That's coming directly from the great God himself. Thus says the Lord, set your house in order for you shall die and not live. Then Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall and prayed to the Lord and said, Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before you in truth with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Verse 4, And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, Go and tell Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord God of David, your father. I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Surely I will add to your days fifteen years. Now, according to the book of Kings, Isaiah wasn't even out of the building yet.

He had said that to Hezekiah, he was turning around and he was in the middle courtyard of the building when God said, Turn around, go back, and tell him I'm going to add fifteen years on to his life. He says, And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city, and this is the sign to you from the Lord, that God will do this thing, which he has spoken. Even though this is in chapter 38, most people believe this event actually occurred before the events that we had read in chapter 37 when the Assyrians had approached the city. So he was given a fifteen-year bonus. Fifteen bonus years.

And during that period of time, his son Manasseh was born, and his son Manasseh re-instituted pagan worship and reversed the religious reforms made by his father Hezekiah, for which he is condemned in numerous scriptures. But here thus saith the Lord said, You're going to die. Get your house in order. Finalize everything because you're going to die. But yet that prayer, that heartfelt prayer, was able to implore and change the mind of God to give this king extra time. When someone dies in the faith, brethren, we have no idea what might have happened to them if they had never been called. We don't have any idea what would have happened to any of us if we had not accepted our calling. If God had called us and we hadn't accepted our calling, we have no idea what our lives would have turned out. But we can look at the glass as half full or half empty. And just to give you food for thought, I want to give you an example of looking at the glass half full. As a congregation, we were very saddened, not just by the death of Mike and Linda, but also by the death of our beloved brother, Tim.

Tim was called in a point in time, and he found out that he had terminal cancer in 1979.

He didn't even tell his wife about it. He didn't tell Becky about it, did he? Becky.

She could see that he was losing weight. He was looking physically weaker. He kept it to himself.

That was 1979. He lost weight. He looked sickly for a while. But he lived another 35 years.

Now, it could very well be that if Tim, and you know how passionate Tim was about God's way of life if you knew Tim, we can either be very sad about the fact that Tim died when he did in his mid-60s, which in our world today is a relatively young man, or we can look at the glasses half full and say, you know, because Tim accepted God's calling, he was expected to die in 1979-1980. God gave him 35 bonus years. That's how we should look at these situations and view God's intervention in our lives in a positive way. Again, looking at the glass as half full of what God has done for us, of the gifts God has given us, rather than viewing things as if God is just taking everything away.

Another question that I am asked is, what is the greatest enemy of faith?

The greatest enemy of faith is fear. The greatest enemy of faith is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of others, fear of failure, fear that our own weaknesses might be discovered by someone else.

Let's go to Matthew 14, verse 21. The greatest enemy of faith is fear. And that's why it is so destructive when religious organizations are built upon making their followers fearful. When they create so many rules, when they create this false aurora about their leader or a personality, that people in the congregation live in fear.

It is anti-faith. An environment of fear does not promote faith. It destroys faith.

Matthew 14, verse 21. Now those who had eaten were about 5,000 men, Jesus feeding to 5,000, besides women and children. Immediately, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away.

While he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. He just wanted to be left alone. A little earlier, before we read, he found out that his cousin, John the Baptist, had been beheaded. He needed some personal time. He needed to think things through. So he wanted to be alone for a while. Now, when evening came, he was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night, which is between 3 and 6 a.m., so it's probably still dark outside, the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost! And they cried out for fear.

I can understand exactly how they felt. Picture that you're out in the sea, and it's dark, or it's just the faint glimmers of daybreak beginning. And here is this figure, probably walking in a white or ivory garment, literally walking on the sea. Glowing, walking on the sea. That had to be quite frightening. And they cried out for fear, but immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. Don't you just love Peter? He's just so impetuous. None of the other disciples would have dared to say that. But Peter was always the first one to speak out. You know, he was always the first one, usually to plant his foot into his mouth in some way.

Just command me to come to you on the water. So he said, Come. And when Peter had come out of the boat, he walked in the water to go to Jesus. Wow! If these scriptures just ended right there, what an incredible example of faith we would have of someone who saw Jesus Christ and said, Because I believe in him, I will be obedient. Command me and I will obey you, and I'll walk in the water just like you are. But as they say in the infomercials, wait, there's more. Verse 29.

But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid. And beginning to sink out, he cried out, Lord, save me! And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt? Peter, you were doing so good for a few seconds before you were distracted when you were, when your focus was on me. You walked in the water just like I did. But it wasn't for a very long period of time.

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased, and then those who were in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, Truly, you are the Son of God. So here's the background of the story. Peter and the other disciples had been struggling against the waves of the sea all night long, and Jesus appeared to them, literally walking on the water. Christ was suspending the laws of gravity, and this miracle was an example of his omnipotence. Peter, wanting to prove his courage to Jesus Christ, and probably brag a little bit to the other disciples, because that was kind of his personality, made an amazing statement. He said, Command me to come to you on the water. In other words, you just say it, Lord, and I'll do it, whatever it is. Peter was willing to literally step out on the sea because he was steadfastly focused on obeying Jesus Christ, and that gave him confidence, and that gave him courage, and he did it, but only for a short period of time. It went well for a while until Peter started to think and sink. That's usually what gets us into trouble. When we think and sink, we think by getting, by overthinking events and making more out of them sometimes than God ever attended. We sometimes take something small, and we blow it out of proportion. We overthink situations, and we get ourselves in trouble. In this case, he began to doubt. This can't be happening. I can't be walking in water that is physically impossible. The wind's blowing hard.

The waves are crashing back, and this is terrifying. The same man who just 10 seconds ago was walking on the water now is filled with fear. Physical distractions take our minds off of God.

The Bible tells us again in verse 30, when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid.

So fear is something that distracts us almost as much as one of our newer members.

That's okay. That's the same way I acted in church many, many years ago. Look how badly I turned out.

But this example of faith, and realizing that fear is the enemy of faith, is the same reason Paul told Timothy that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Because if we're fearful, whatever that fear may be generated from, it will eventually destroy our faith. Brethren, faith means that we can raise our level of expectancy and believe that good things will be given to us by God. I want you to never forget that faith is the evidence of things not seen, and we have to spiritually believe good things on the inside before they're ever going to happen on the outside. I want to encourage all of us to choose to live with an attitude that God is in control, and good things are what God has in store for us. And if they don't happen now, if they don't happen even in our own physical lifetimes, then like it says there in Hebrews 11, we know we can look far off and know that God's promises for us are sure, including God's promises to heal us, God's promises to make us whole, God's promises to make us part of his literal family, God's promises to give us eternal life in the kingdom of God. Regarding whether we have faith or fear, there's a spiritual and psychological principle that we have to understand, and that is that we move towards what we see in our minds, and if we see in our minds doubt and negativity, we mentally will move towards that direction. Having the doubts is natural, and having doubts is part of the test, but yielding and dwelling on the doubts, as I said, thinking before sinking, dwelling on the doubts is the faith killer. That's what weakens our faith.

Often what hinders our faith is that we forget that we are supposed to be tested.

When our prayers are not answered in the way or at the time we desire, we often become discouraged, and we begin to doubt God. What we often forget is that these very doubts are a test of our faith, and it's part of God's individual plan for your life and for my life to develop us into his children. What I've learned over the years is that a test of faith, the reason some people get sick, the reason some people go through periods of tragedy in their lives, oftentimes isn't for them. They end up fine. They end up okay. Oftentimes that test of faith was intended for the friends and the loved ones of the person who needs healing. I've seen many situations where the faith of a person who was afflicted was just fine, and they got through it okay, and even if they died, they knew that their eternity was secure. But in many times, it was the friends, the family members of those individuals, whose faith was damaged because they were praying for someone else, and those prayers weren't being heard in their minds, weren't being answered. And when God didn't answer as soon or in a way that was expected, a person's confidence in God's providence and intervention became deeply wounded.

We don't want that to happen to us. God has a plan and a mission for each of us, and we have to trust in God's wisdom and in his plan and in his mission for each and every one of us.

The older I get, the more I understand that I am what I am today because of what I believed about God and myself yesterday. And I will be tomorrow what I believe about God and myself today.

You have to see it and believe it first on the inside before it's ever going to happen on the outside. We don't always get in life what we deserve, but we usually get no more than we expect.

And if we expect to live in a constant cloud, if we expect mediocrity, that's exactly what we're going to get. Because we ultimately become what we believe. That is the power of faith.

So the next time you face something that requires faith, I want to encourage you to remember this scripture. This is a final scripture in our sermon today. If you'll turn to Ephesians 3 and verse 13.

Ephesians 3 and verse 13.

Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. What? Tribulations or glory? Where have you been, Paul? That's what he says. Verse 14. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Holy Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Again, faith is the evidence of things not seen. That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend all with all the saints. What is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God? Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. So we have concluded three sermons, I believe in my entire ministry, the only time I've ever spoken a series of three in 40 years. So why is this topic so important? Why was it worth three sermons? Well, for a number of reasons. Obviously, one reason is because we've had some beloved individuals who have died in the faith, and that's been hard on all of us, including me. We have other individuals who are going through some very difficult health trials and situations, and that's also been hard on us as a congregation. But there's another reason, and that is, as we approach the spring holy days, we need to understand the number one first requirement before anything else is possible.

I want you to think for a second of the holy days in reverse.

Before there comes a time when there's a resurrection of all who ever lived, we call it the eighth day or the last great day, there's something else that has to occur before that day will ever be fulfilled. There's a quality, there's a trait that had to be fulfilled before this world will ever see that day. Before the kingdom of God is established, there's a quality, a trait that has to have occurred before Jesus Christ ever sets his foot on the earth. Before Satan is removed from influencing humankind, there's a quality, there's a characteristic that needs to occur before that atonement can ever occur between mankind and mankind's creator. Before one receives the gift of the Holy Spirit that we understand is represented by the day of Pentecost, there's something that has to occur, a necessary foundation and ingredient before we can ever receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Before one can repent of their sins and respond to God's calling, there's an ingredient, a characteristic that must take place before we can even repent of our sins and begin to respond to God.

You know what that characteristic is? You know what that ingredient is that's represented by the very first thing that kicks off the spring Holy Day season? It's faith. It's faith that Jesus Christ was the Passover Lamb of God. It's faith that there is a God and he sent his one and only son into the world to shed his blood so that your sins and my sins could be forgiven. It's faith that God has a plan for humanity, that he hasn't abandoned mankind and he hasn't given up on mankind, but he has a purpose for this world, that he has a purpose for your life. And again, that is all generated by a characteristic, by a belief system that we call biblical faith. It's that foundation of a passionate faith in who and what and why and when and how Jesus Christ lives that makes everything else possible. That makes all that is represented in those holy days possible and you know what it all begins with faith, belief, commitment. In spite of what our physical eyes may see going on in the world, in spite of what our senses may be telling us, it's faith in the providence and the goodness and greatness of God.

We've been discussing that very first foundation step and we'll be discussing more of it during the next four weeks as we prepare for the spring holy days. So have a wonderful Sabbath day. Certainly enjoy all the activities tonight. I will sneak in to watch the parade because I wouldn't miss that. It's just too cute. And have a great Sabbath and hopefully we'll see everyone soon.