RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2020-08-27	When God Answers 'No' to Our Prayers
		How do we respond to a 'no' answer from God. A 'no' answer can make us feel discouraged over or even ignored. What if you ask the Lord for something that you believe is in perfect accord with his will from Scripture, but God does not grant it? This is not a theoretical question, but a personal, and sometimes a hard thing to experience. We need to look to Scripture to help us better understand this phenomenon. Mat 7:7  "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Mat 7:8  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Mat 7:9  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Mat 7:10  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? Mat 7:11  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Jesus draws our attention to think how we treat our own children. And this is compared to how God treats His children. Here God promises to give good things to His children when they ask. Notice that it does not say He gives exactly what they asked for. And since He is comparing us to our own parenting, we know that we do not give them everything they ask for. We know that our children do not know what is good for them. Sometimes they ask for something you know is not good for them, but they still want it. So we may give our child something that they may not want as much, but it will not hurt them or may be better for them. So Christians ask God for something wonderful like the conversion of a loved one. And we cannot imagine how this could be bad for us. The principle of Jesus is important even if the application may be hard to grasp. So we have to acknowledge that God often answers prayer differently than how we ask. Gen 17:15  Then God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. Gen 17:16  And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her." Gen 17:17  Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" Gen 17:18  And Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!" Gen 17:19  Then God said: "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. Gen 17:20  And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. This is an application of what we saw in Matthew chapter 7. Abraham asked God that Ishmael would be the son of promise. And God says, 'no'. God could have left it at that, and go on to do with Ishmael as He planned. God tells Abraham, “I have heard you” and so that is why I am going to do this for Ishmael. God does not do what Abraham asked for. But God will bless Ishmael in a different way. God tells Abraham I will bless Ishmael because I heard your prayer. What can we learn from this about God's 'no' answer to our prayers? Even when God says 'no' to the specifics of our prayer, it does not mean there is no alternative response to the prayer. When we pray with a right heart we never pray in vain. These passages should teach us that even when the specifics of what I ask for is not granted, we must understand that God gives good things because of the prayer. God does this because we asked Him. So do not be afraid to ask. The blessings we receive may not be in the form of what we asked, but they are owing to our prayers. And they are good. Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

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