Does God Answer All Your Prayers?
Introduction
I love cricket. At least, I love watching it; I was never any good at playing it. But I know many people don’t like cricket and don’t even understand the rules of it (especially if they come from a country where it isn’t a popular sport). So I hope you will forgive me for using a cricketing analogy.
When two batsmen are running between the wickets on a cricket pitch, they need to co-ordinate the decision about whether to run or not. One will shout to the other ‘Yes’ (that is, ‘Let’s run’), or ‘No’ (that is, ‘Stay where you are’), or ‘Wait’ (that is, ‘Let’s see what happens before we decide whether to run’).
God hears all your prayers (Psalm 139:4, 1 John 5:14–15, 1 Peter 3:12) and, in one sense, he answers all your prayers. But we do not always receive what we ask for. When we ask God for something, the response will be ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ or ‘Wait’.
John Stott wrote that God will answer ‘No’ if the things we ask for ‘are either not good in themselves, or not good for us or for others, directly or indirectly, immediately or ultimately’.
We don’t always get to know the reason why the answer is ‘No’. We need to remember that God sees things from an eternal perspective and that there are some things we may never understand in this life.
In the passages for today we see examples of all three types of response from God.
Psalm 17:15
15 As for me, I shall be vindicated and shall see your face;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with seeing your likeness.
Commentary
God says ‘yes’
What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? David sets us a great example: ‘As for me… I shall be fully satisfied when I awake to find myself beholding your form and having sweet communion with you’ (v.15, AMP). Start each day seeking God’s presence and finding satisfaction in him.
This is the heart of what prayer is all about. It is not just about asking for things; it is about seeking God’s face and enjoying ‘sweet communion with him’.
This is the context of David’s request. He cried out to God for help in the face of his enemies (vv.13–14). God heard and answered his prayers with a positive response, ‘Yes’.
Prayer
Lord, each day, when I awake, may I enjoy sweet communion with you and ‘be satisfied with seeing your likeness’ (v.15b).
Matthew 20:20–34
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favour of him. 21 ‘What is it you want?’ he asked. She said, ‘Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ 22 ‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?’
“We can,” they answered.
23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!’ 32 Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked. 33 ‘Lord,’ they answered, ‘we want our sight.’ 34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
Commentary
God says ‘no’ to one request, ‘yes’ to another
Rick Warren writes, ‘When the request is not right, God says “No”. When the timing is not right, God says “Slow”. When you are not right, God says “Grow”. But when the request is right and the timing is right and you are right, God says “Go”.’
In this passage we see two requests. The first receives the answer ‘No’ (vv.20–28) and the second the answer ‘Yes’ (vv.29–34).
Two requests
In both cases Jesus asked, ‘What do you want?’ He said to the mother of Zebedee’s sons, ‘What is it you want?’ (v.21). He said to the two blind men, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ (v.32).
In a way, it must have been obvious what they wanted (in the second instance they were blind, so they must have wanted to see), but God wants us to be actively involved. The apostle James says, ‘You do not have, because you do not ask God’ (James 4:2). Jesus says, ‘Ask and it will be given to you... For everyone who asks receives’ (Matthew 7:7–8). It may seem an obvious point, but the starting point of answered prayer is actually asking.
Two responses
In the case of the request of the blind men, Jesus’ response was ‘Yes’. ‘Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him’ (v.34).
On the other hand, Jesus, in effect, said ‘No’ to the mother of Zebedee’s sons. This response also stemmed from compassion. Her request was for glory, power and promotion for her boys. He points out that she does not seem to understand all the implications of her request.
He said, ‘Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?’ (v.22). The Old Testament prophets spoke in several passages of the ‘cup of his (God’s) wrath’ (for example, Isaiah 51:17–22; Jeremiah 25:15–29).
Shockingly, Jesus speaks of drinking this cup himself. He is going to ‘give his life as a ransom for many’ (Matthew 20:28). The Greek word for ‘for’ (‘anti’), means ‘instead of’. This is the clearest example in the whole New Testament of Jesus explaining his death in terms of substitution.
Two reasons
The apostle James writes, ‘When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives’ (James 4:3). Behind the requests here lay different motives. Both requests were to do with lordship. The request of the blind men came from the recognition that Jesus is Lord, and a desire for something good (Matthew 20:30–33). On the other hand, Jesus points out that the mother’s request came from a desire to ‘lord it over’ others (v.25).
True greatness does not come from lording it over others or from what the world regards as success (wealth, position, fame or having a ‘successful’ ministry). Rather, Jesus says that true greatness comes from becoming ‘a servant’ – following his example in choosing ‘to serve, not be served’ (vv.26–28). This is an example of where the disciples were wrong and God said ‘Grow’.
I think I have learnt more in my own life from the times when my prayers have not seemed to be answered than from the times when they have been answered with a ‘Yes’. Certainly the disciples must have learnt a huge amount from this ‘unanswered’ prayer.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for the lessons that we learn from ‘unanswered’ prayer. Thank you that you showed us true greatness. Help me to devote my life to your service and to the service of others.
Job 16:1–21
16 Then Job replied:
2 “I have heard many things like these;
you are miserable comforters, all of you!
3 Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?
4 I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.
5 But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
19 Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.
20 ‘My intercessor is my friend
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
21 on behalf of a human being he pleads with God
as one pleads for a friend.’
Commentary
God says ‘wait’
Do you realise that, whatever difficulties you are facing, right now Jesus is praying for you?
Poor Job had to put up with increasingly irritating speeches from his friends in which they condemned him more and more, wrongly accusing him. Job described them as ‘miserable comforters’ (16:2), with their ‘long-winded speeches’ (v.3a). They were absolutely no help to him at all (v.4).
Some people wrongly believe – as Job’s so-called ‘friends’ did – that our suffering in this life is always caused by our own sin, or even by sin in a former life. So, if people are born in poverty or with some genetic disorder, it must be their fault. This blame must be a terrible additional unnecessary suffering (the idea of reincarnation is totally repudiated in the Bible, see Hebrews 9:27).
When your friends are suffering avoid being a ‘miserable’ comforter (Job 16:2). Rather, as Job suggests, ‘encourage’, ‘comfort’ and ‘strengthen’ them and ‘soothe their suffering’ (v.5, NIV and AMP).
One thing you can always do is to intercede (pray on their behalf) for them. Job said:
‘My intercessor is my friend
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
on behalf of a human being he pleads with God
as one pleads for a friend’ (vv.20–21).
We are not told who the intercessor was, but whoever it was, he was a real friend to Job because he was pleading to God for him.
The prayers of the intercessor may not seem to have been answered immediately, but they were eventually when God restored Job’s fortunes. His answer to Job’s intercessor and to Job was ‘Wait’. Later it was Job’s intercession for others that was the immediate cause of his restoration (42:8–10).
Who is Job’s intercessor? Job says, ‘Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high’ (16:19). In the New Testament we see that the one ‘who represents mortals before God’ (v.21, MSG) is Jesus. He is your ‘advocate with the Father’ (1 John 2:1, RSV). He is interceding for you (Hebrews 7:24–25).
Jesus was Job’s advocate. He was interceding for him. Jesus was pleading with God ‘as one pleads for a friend’ (Job 16:21). There is a similarity between Job’s experience and that of Peter. Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail’ (Luke 22:31–32).
As John Wimber used to say, ‘The good news is that Jesus is praying for you. The bad news is that you are going to need it!’
Prayer
Lord, thank you so much that you promise to be my advocate. Thank you that in the times when, like Job or Peter, it seems that Satan is sifting me like wheat, you are praying for me. Thank you that I know that, even if it seems like I am having to wait, the answer to my advocate-in-heaven’s prayer will always ultimately be ‘Yes’.
Pippa adds
In Matthew 20, we see that the mother of Zebedee’s sons seems rather pushy. We can all be over-ambitious for our children. There’s a right sort of ambition for our children and a wrong sort. Jesus says, ‘You don’t know what you are asking’ (Matthew 20:22). So it is important to pray for our children along the lines of the will of God, not our own agenda or the world’s.
Thought for the Day
If God answers ‘Yes’, He is increasing your faith.
If ‘Wait’, He is increasing your patience.
If ‘No’, He has something better for you.
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References
The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel (commentary formerly known as Bible in One Year) ©Alpha International 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Compilation of daily Bible readings © Hodder & Stoughton Limited 1988. Published by Hodder & Stoughton Limited as the Bible in One Year.
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.