Unanswered Prayers
We are not to think
that God has not heard our prayers
because no favorable answer is given.
The heavenly Father hears every
prayer that is addressed to Him, but
it is not always possible for Him to
grant the request. For this there may
be several reasons. We may not know
what is best for us, and so ask
unwisely. God may have some better
thing in store for us, and hence does
not give us that for which we ask. We
may ask for patience, and, knowing
the tribulation works patience, God
may send affliction as an answer to
our request. Every prayer comes up
before God and is given due
consideration, and the answer sent is
the one we would want if we knew the
circumstances as God does.
The Bible records many
instances of answered prayers, and
many prayers that were not answered.
When God denies a prayer, it is not
necessarily, because the petitioner
is unworthy. Quite the contrary.
We shall cite the cases of Moses and
Christ in support of this view. It
must be admitted that each of these
men was dear to the heart of God, and
that denial of their prayers was not
because God did not esteem them
highly. Yet their prayers were not
granted: Moses, because he failed to
give God the glory; because He had
taken man’s place, and must
experience the feeling of being
forsaken of God as well as of man.
Moses’ prayer
that he be permitted to enter the
Promised Land was a most natural one.
Forty years he had herded sheep in
the wilderness, and forty more years
he had led Israel, until they were
about to enter the Promised Land.
Moses stood before the entrance to
Canaan and begged God pathetically if
he might not enter. Hear him plead,
“I besought the Lord at that
time saying… I pray Thee, let me
go over, and see the good land that
is beyond Jordan, that goodly
mountain, and Lebanon. However, the
Lord was wroth with me for your
sakes, and would not hear me: and the
Lord said unto me, Let it suffice
thee; speak no more to Me of this
matter…. Thou shalt not go over
this Jordan.” Deuteronomy 3:
23-27.
This must have been a
grievous, almost staggering
disappointment to Moses. For this
moment, he had worked forty years,
and now at the very time when he
could have entered Canaan, God denied
his request. He had been disobedient
in what might have been considered a
minor matter. On a previous occasion,
God had asked him to smite the
rock, while this time he was to speak
to it. Instead of speaking as God had
commanded, he smote the rock, and it
gave forth water. Because of this
disobedience, God said to Moses and
Aaron, “Because ye believed Me
not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of
the children of Israel, therefore ye
shall not bring this congregation
into the land which I have given
them.” Numbers 20:12.
In this case, more was
at stake than a rebuke to Moses
personally. His punishment was a
lesson to Israel as a whole.
Naturally, Israel expected Moses to
lead them into the land to the border
of which he had brought them after
these many years. Surely, God would
not deny him the one thing for which
he had toiled, prayed, and endured so
many hardships!
When the news first
reached Israel that Moses had been
denied entrance, it must have caused
consternation to the whole people.
They had come to look upon Moses not
only as their leader, but their hope,
their intercessor, God’s chosen
man. What terrible sin had he
committed that he was to be set
aside?
They knew that their
fathers had died in the wilderness
because of sin and lack of faith. Bit
Moses! What had he done? It must have
been a great sin beyond what the
people could imagine, or God would
not so deal with him.
It was therefore a
matter of perplexity to them when
they learned that Moses’ sin was
a seemingly trivial thing, one that
did not deserve the punishment God
had meted out. They knew that God was
particular even in small things; but
the fact that Moses had smitten the
rock instead of speaking to it seemed
so inconsequential that it hardly
deserves notice.
However, God did
notice it, and in such a way that it
was not merely a rebuke to Moses, but
a lesson to Israel in carefulness
even in the smallest matters. The
reason for Moses’ ungranted
prayer (Deuteronomy 3: 23-27),
was primarily his disobedience; but
chiefly it was for the sake of the
people who were largely responsible
for his transgression and who needed
to be shaken from their
self-satisfied complacency. Moses
said pointedly, “The Lord was
wroth with me for your
sakes.” Verse 26. They
could not fail to understand that if
God were strict with Moses, He would
be no less strict with them. They
needed to have this impressed upon
them, as they were about to enter the
Promised Land.
Moses was not
permitted to enter the Promised Land,
the earthy Canaan. His request was
not granted; but God had reserved
some better thing for him. We do not
know at what time Michael, the
Archangel, “disputed about the
body of Moses” (Jude 9); but we
do know that Moses was taken to
heaven, and later appeared to Christ
on the mount of transfiguration
(Matthew 17:3). Moses did not enter
the earthy Canaan; he had entered the
heavenly instead. God’s denial
of his request brought Moses a
greater reward than he asked for.
Jesus Christ
At the supreme moment
in Christ’s earth experience He
prayed, “O My Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from Me:
nevertheless not as I will, but as
Thou wilt.” Matthew 26:39. The
second time He prayed, “O My
Father, if this cup may not pass away
from Me, except I drink it, Thy will
be done.” Verse 42. After
finding the disciples asleep, He
“went away again, and prayed the
third time, saying the same
words.” Verse 44.
We have no record of
the answers that Christ received to
His repeated prayers, except as they
are suggested by the text. It appears
that after His first request he was
told that there was no other way by
which the cup could be removed if He
were to accomplish the task He had
come to do. He had said to God,
“All things are possible unto
Thee” (Mark 14:36), which was
true in itself; for God could have
removed the cup; but that would have
vitiated the plan according to which
Christ was to give His life. It was
possible for God to remove the cup,
but it was not possible to do this
and also save man.
This information must
have been conveyed to Christ as an
answer to His request, for He accepts
the decision in the words, “If
this cup may not pass away from Me,
except I drink it, Thy will be
done.” Matthew 26:42. This
prayer breathes complete submission
after He understood that the cup
could not be removed.
Christ’s prayer
to have the cup removed “if it
be possible” can be understood
only in the light of Christ’s
perfect humanity. He had taken
man’s place with man’s
limitations. However, Christ had been
one with God, and there had been
perfect union and co-operation. Now
He stood in a different relation with
the Father. The sins of the world
were placed upon Him, and He must
bear the consequences. With the load
of the world’s sin resting upon
Him, He must suffer the Father’s
displeasure because of sin. “Who
His own self bare our sins in His own
body on the tree,” or as a more
correct rendering has it, “up to
the tree.” 1 Peter 2:24. Being
thus made sin for us, God must treat
Him as we deserve to be treated, and
must turn His face from His beloved
Son.
Christ had fully
understood the cost of saving man as
He and the Father in the councils of
eternity had evolved the only plan
that could save man. He knew and
understood Gethsemane, Golgotha, and
Calvary. Now when He was a man,
clouds enveloped Him. He could no
longer see His Father’s
reconciling face. All was oppressive
and gloom. It was one thing for
Christ as God to decide to die for
man. It was another thing for Him as
man to pass through the dark waters
alone. It was the realization of the
necessity of being separated from the
Father that broke the heart of the
Son of God, and in His humanity, He
shrank from it. However, faith broke
through, and in submission He says,
“Thy will be done.”
Was Christ’s
request that the cup pass from Him
denied? Yes, the cup was not and
could not be removed. He must drink
it.
Was His prayer heard?
Yes. Hear these words: “In the
days of His flesh, when He had
offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto Him
that was able to save Him from death,
and was heard in that He
feared.” Hebrews 5:7. Christ
“was heard,” but He was not
saved from death nor from drinking
the cup.
Are we then to draw
the conclusion that God heard His
prayer but denied the petition, and
that the word “heard” here
does not denote what it does in other
places, namely, that of a favorable
answer, but only that God heard what
He said? Not necessarily, for in a
larger sense God granted
Christ’s petition. This can be
understood only as we appreciate the
full force of the words, “Thy
will be done.”
In using these words,
Christ submitted Himself so fully to
the Father, that the Father’s
will became His. In this submission
lay the answer to Christ’s
request. Christ’s will was fully
in harmony with the Father’s;
and as it was not possible to remove
the cup, God’s will became
Christ’s will. Thus, His prayer
was answered.
With the examples of
Moses and Christ before us, we should
not be discouraged if our prayers are
not answered immediately, or indeed,
if they are never answered. There are
good reasons for what God does. There
are times when God ought not to
answer our prayers for our own sake
and that of others. In all conditions
we are to submit to God, and whatever
the answer to our prayers may be, we
should from the heart be able to say,
“Thy will be done.”
Memory Verse:
“During the
days of Jesus’ life on earth, he
offered up prayers and petitions with
loud cries and tears to the one who
could save him from death. And he was
heard because of his reverent
submission. Although he was a son, he
learned obedience from what he
suffered and, once made perfect, he
became the source of eternal
salvation for all who obey him and
was designated by God to be the high
priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5: 7-10
Questions:
1. Is
there anything to big or small that
does not concern God? Explain.
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2. Can you
see now, that God may not answer our
prayers for our own good? Explain.
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