When the Answer is No!

Perhaps more articles, books and blogs have been written on prayer and any other topic.  I have also commented on prayer so this will not be a new revelation.  Just a few more thoughts on the subject.  I’m sure most of you have heard these comments or perhaps might have ideas of your own.  Good.  Keep those thoughts in your life.  God is always there and whether our prayers go exactly the way we expect or want He is listening.

That being said…….we know that we don’t always get what we ask for.  Moses wanted to enter the Promised Land.  More than anything, he wanted to finish the journey, cross the Jordan and stand on the soil of the holy land that God had promised Abraham many years before. God said “No.”  End of discussion.

Moses pleaded with the Lord, “Let me I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan” (Deut. 3:25). Ordinarily Moses got what he asked for. Whether he asked for miraculous provisions, amazing signs and wonders, direct answers from heaven, or divine assistance and rescue, God heard the prayers of Moses and answered them immediately.  But not even Moses got everything he wanted.  Despite his earnest entreaties, God refused to allow Moses to enter Canaan.  The Lord replied to his prayers, saying.”Enough speak to me no more of this matter!”  (Deut 3:26)

The Lord is gracious and compassionate.  He delights to answer the prayers of his children.  He opens His and hand and satisfies the desire of every living things.  If an earthly father gives good gifts to his children when they ask him, how much more so does your heavenly father delight to answer our prayers.  Yeshua teaches us.” Whatever you ask of the Father in my name He may give to you. (John 15:16)  Nevertheless, the answer to prayer is sometimes “No.”

If God gave me everything I asked for in prayer, it would be same as giving me the power of being God. I might arbitrarily change the color of the sky or the chemical composition of water, turn back the clock in time, or wish upon a star!! Obviously God has to reserve the right to say no to our prayers.  James the brother of the Master says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3)

Well, my prayers are seldom about the money in the bank, or the oil well that isn’t producing, or winning the lottery.  Even when we ask with the right motives, God still might have to say no.  When we pray, we need to trust in God’s wisdom and kindness, knowing that He has our best interests in mind. Though we don’t always get an affirmative answer, we can be confident that our prayers are heard.

Just as Moses longed to enter the land, so too, Yeshua awaits His return to this earth.  He awaits the day of redemption when He can return at last and reclaim His own people and His disciples and thereby bring His great redemptive work to its conclusion. We do not know when He will return.

When that glorious day arrives then all our prayers will be “Yes.”