Sermon Tone Analysis

The Mystery of Unanswered Prayer

 

Matthew 6:5-13

March 11, 2007

*/Focus:/*/ God always knows the right answer to our requests: no, slow, grow, or let’s go./

 

*Do You Ever Ask, Why Won’t God Answer Me?*

It’s regular a occurrence with me .

My conversations go something like this: “Dave, didn’t Jesus say, ‘Ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be open’?

Didn’t he say that?”

Now, not being born yesterday, and being fairly confident in where conversations like that usually go, I sometimes play prophet, and I burst into the conversation and say, “What prayer have you been praying that you think God is not answering?

Let’s get right to the root of the matter.”

It is amazing how often that response opens the door for an honest outpouring of confusion and frustration.

Someone says, “I’ve been praying for my husband to stop drinking, and he hasn’t stopped.”

“I’ve been praying for a job, but I can’t find one.”

“I’ve been praying for my wife’s depression.

Nothing has changed.”

“I’ve been praying for guidance, but no guidance has come.”

On and on the lamentations go.

I couldn’t begin to count how many people I’ve counseled over this mystery, or I could even call it the agony, of unanswered prayer.

Our Scripture passage today is from Matthew  6:5-13; let’s open our Bibles and read it now/:  Read from NASB /

/ /

If you’ve been praying and nothing seems to be happening, think on these statements with reference to unanswered prayer.

If the request is wrong, God will say /no /to your request.

If the timing is wrong, God might choose to say /slow/, go slow, wait.

If you are wrong—a distinct possibility for some of us—if something is amiss in your life, maybe God will choose, instead of granting your request, to say, “You need to /grow/.”

But if the request is right and the timing is right and you are right, chances are God will say, “Let’s /go/,” and grant the request.

Let me develop these statements so you can apply them more effectively to your own situations as you pray.

*I.

The Request Is Wrong—/No/*

First, if the request is wrong, God will say /no/.

There are such things as wrong or inappropriate prayer requests.

You are aware of that, aren’t you?

Three famous disciples during the time of Jesus—Peter, James and John—accompanied Jesus to the top of a high mountain, and there, all of a sudden, God’s full glory descends upon Jesus.

The three disciples stand back in awe.

They behold the splendor of God just a few feet away.

And they are so taken with Jesus’ Transfiguration that they say, “Jesus, allow us to build shelters up here, and we’ll just live up here the rest of our lives, and we’ll bask in your glory.”

What was Jesus’ response, in a word, to their request?

/No./

“No.

I’m not going to grant that one, fellows.

We’ve got work to do down in the plains, down where people live.

We’re not just going to stay up here and bask in my glory.

No. Wrong request.”

One time James and John came to Jesus, and they asked if they could make reservations for the best two seats in heaven.

They said, “We’d like one directly on Jesus’ left and one directly on Jesus’ right.

Could you arrange that for us, Jesus?” Remember Jesus’ answer to that request?

“No.

I’m not going to grant that one, guys, it’s a wrong request.”

Another time Jesus and the disciples were denied a travel permit through a certain part of Samaria.

That denial aggravated the disciples so much that they requested Jesus to destroy the entire region with fire from heaven.

Remember Jesus’ reply to their request?

Jesus said, “No, I didn’t come to torch people; I came to transform people.

No, I’m not going to grant that request.”

Do you see the point I’m making?

The disciples were fully capable of making inappropriate requests of Jesus.

And when the requests were wrong, Jesus said no.

 

Are you capable of making wrong requests to God?

I am.

I do.

I probably will in the future.

Are you capable of making requests that are totally self-serving?

I am.

Are you capable of making requests of God that are patently materialistic, convenience-oriented, shortsighted, perhaps immature?

I am.

And our God loves us too much to say yes to wrong requests.

If the request is wrong, God will answer the prayer, but his answer will be no.

And you wouldn’t want a God who would do any less.

By hindsight I can thank God for saying no to prayers I thought at the time were appropriate.

Now by hindsight I say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you that you said no to that particular request.”

Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Church and author of many books, relates the following story, “I remember one time when the elders had been praying for years about a particular need on our staff.

We needed a person.

We all thought of an individual at the same time and we prayed, “Oh God, would this person be the individual to help us in a certain area?”

We all agreed that we were going to pray that this person would be the person.

I was commissioned to meet with the person and ask him to join our staff, to consider it anyway.

So I went, commissioned by the elders, to ask that person.

I went to the restaurant, sat down with the individual, and had a nice lunch.

During the conversation, I was praying, “Lord, should I ask right now?

Should I pose the question?

Should I issue the challenge right now?

You know how desperately we need a person to lead this particular area.”

And as I was ready to launch ahead, it was so apparent that God was saying, “No, don’t do it.”

And by God’s grace, I decided not to issue the challenge.

I remember toward the end of the lunch him saying, “Well, was there anything else?

Was this sort of a social visit, or is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?”

I said, “Not really.”

And I went back and told the elders, “I couldn’t do it.”

Six months later we learned that there was deception in the life of that leader, such that his entire ministry crumbled around him, and even today he is disqualified from service.

That may have happened right here in our body, and God could have been dishonored.

And I remember when all of that hit, I thought, /Whew!

Thank you, God, for having enough love and concern for our body and for our elders and for our staff to just plain say no!”/

So if you have been praying diligently about a matter, and if you have sensed resistance from heaven, do you know what I would challenge you to do? Review your request.

Your request may be the problem.

Maybe the request is a cop-out on your part, an unwillingness to face a real issue.

Maybe the request is destructive in ways you don’t understand.

Maybe the request is self-serving.

Maybe the request is shortsighted.

Maybe the request is too small, and God might have something better in mind, and he’s saying no to this one because he has a better plan.

But again because of our God’s omniscience and because of his great care for you, if the request is wrong, God will say no, at which point you should review the request or modify it or lay it to rest, let it go.

If the request is wrong, God will say no.

 

*II.

The Timing Is Wrong—/Slow/*

Secondly, if the timing is wrong, God will say /slow/.