Why Is God Not Hearing My Prayers?

I. The Lighthouse - A Harbor Of Safety In A Storm-Tossed World

A. We Are Living In A Post-Christian Culture.

1) For the first time there are youth being raised in America who have never heard the name of Jesus.

2) We’ve talked a little about the Millennial Generation.

3) Generation “Z” is the next Generation coming up, 25 and under.

B. Focusing On What We Are For More Than What We Are Against.

1) Being a welcoming and hospitable place

a) The poor

b) The outcast

c) The oppressed

d) The broken-hearted

2) Family – a family of families

a) For life, for adoption - Lifemark

b) For healthy relationships

3) Healing – spiritual, emotional, and physical

4) Life and Light

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. (John 1:4, NASB95)

John 1:4 NASB95

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12, NASB95)

John 8:12 NASB95

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

C. Light has always been a biblical metaphor of truth, purity, healing, revelation, and God’s presence.

1) Are we a ray of hope?

2) Are we a source of strength?

3) Are we a beacon of truth?

4) Are we a basking in the glory of God’s presence and protection?

D. Answering The “Why?” Questions.

1) Why Does God Not Hear My Prayer, When I Am Struggling So Much?

II.Hopeful Exasperation (vs. 1-2)

A. Have You Ever Felt Like God Is Just Not Listening To Your Prayers?

1) I Cry Aloud To God … He Will Hear Me.

2) In The Day Of Trouble … I SeekThe Lord.

a) Trouble - A situation of a time of extreme discomfort.

b) Seek - Studying and inquiring of God.

3) In The Night…

a) My hand was stretched out without weariness.

b) My soul refused to be comforted.

III. The Angst (vs.3-4)

A. When I Remember God I Moan

B. When I Meditate, My Spirit Faints

C. You Hold My Eyelids Open

D. I Am So Troubled I Cannot Speak

IV. The Questions In The Night (vs. 5-9)

A. I Consider The Days Of Old Of Long Ago

1) Goes nostalgic about the Good Ole Days.

B. I Will Remember My Song In The Night.

1) I will meditate with my heart

2) My spirit will ponder/searches

3) This implies these are things that he has already worked through. What has he worked through?

a) The questions in the night.

C. Have You Ever Asked These Questions?

1) Will the Lord spurn/reject forever?

You say God is there, but He sure doesn’t look like He is. All I see is chaos.

2) Will he never be favorable again?

You say God is good, but the world sure makes it look like He’s not. All I see is pain.

3) Has God’s steadfast love/lovingkindness ceased forever?

You say God is love, where is all the love in the world? All I see is hate.

4) Has God’s promises come to an end forever?

You say to trust Him, but how can I trust when all I’ve experienced is broken promises?

5) Has God forgotten to be gracious?

You say God is a gracious God, but all I see is judgment and condemnation.

6) Has God in anger withdrawn his compassion?

How can I serve an angry God? That’s all the God of the Old Testament is. He’s mean, vindictive, and orders genocide.

D. The Psalmist Has Already Worked Through Those Questions.

1) It is not wrong to ask these questions.

2) God is big enough to handle our questions.

3) It reveals our heart attitude. At least we are asking the One who can actually do something about it.

a) Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

V. The Solution (vs. 10-15)

What Helped Him Do That?

A. I Will Appeal To The Years Of The Right Hand Of The Most High

1) The NASB translates this in the negative. This is my grief, or fear, that the right hand of the Most High has changed.

2) The ESV translates it in the positive: I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

3) The right hand – power, control, and decree

B. I Will Remember My Song In The Night (vs 6)

“But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night, Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’ (Job 35:10–11, NASB95)

Job 35:10–11 NASB95

“But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night, Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

1) The dark night of the soul – what song has helped you in dark times?

C. I Will Remember The Deeds Of The Lord and His Strength And Power

1) What has God done in the past?

a) His wonders – powerful, unusual, extraordinary and applies to God’s deliverance of His people – these things become the focal point of people’s worship of God.

b) His works – transcendent, yet immanent, perfect and complete

c) His ways – holy: above, separate, better, special, sacred

“The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. (Deuteronomy 32:4, NASB95)

Deuteronomy 32:4 NASB95

“The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. (Isaiah 25:1, NASB95)

Isaiah 25:1 NASB95

O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

2) What has He done in the past in your life?

a) What did Jesus use to communicate truth?

b) Stories, parables, analogies

Read It Is Well

The year had been filled with tragedy for Horatio Spafford, a 43-year-old Chicago businessman. In 1871 his only son died of pneumonia at the tender age of 4. That same year, he and his wife were still grieving over the death of their son when the Great Chicago Fire destroyed a large portion of his business that he’d worked so hard to build and caused them financial disaster.

He realized that his family needed to get away, so, in 1873, he sent his wife, Anna, and four daughters to Europe for the summer holiday, a business problem preventing him from going so he planned to join them later. His wife and daughters went ahead on the SS Ville du Havre, but on the fourth day of his family’s voyage to Europe, their ship collided with a barge and sank within 12 minutes. More than 200 lives were lost, including the Spafford’s four daughters. His wife was found in the sea, clinging to a board, and was rescued. When the survivors were brought to shore at Cardiff, Wales, Mrs. Spafford cabled her husband with the words, “Saved alone. What shall I do?”

He booked passage on the next ship to be with his wife. Four days into his voyage the captain of the ship called to him to tell him that they were passing over the place where his daughters were lost at sea. It was while crossing the Atlantic that Spafford Penned the words to the hymn: “When sorrows like sea-billows roll, whatever my lot, You have taught me to say – It is well, it is well with my soul.”

c) Faith that God has a purpose in it that we cannot see.

3) Resulting In Praise: “What God Is So Great As Our God?”

D. Remembering His Redemption

VI. God Acting On Our Behalf (vs. 16-20)

A. When God Appears, The Earth Trembles

B. When God Moves, The Earth Senses It

C. Your Way Was Through The Sea

But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” (Exodus 14:13–14, NASB95)

Exodus 14:13–14 NASB95

But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”

1) But, your footprints were not seen

2) But We Don’t Always Know it.

a) Perceive

b) Understand

c) Know intimately

3) Why is God not answering my prayer?

a) It’s not that he’s not answering, it might be that we’re looking in the wrong places

b) It might be we can’t know it until after we experience it.

· Why was the psalmist able to write this psalm? Because he wrestled through it. Jacob and the angel.

· Sometimes God’s answers are best seen hindsight.

c) You’re not going to understand God until you let God come into your life and show you.

· You’ve got to stop trying to do it your way and give God’s way a try.

· Every time we try to do it our way that’s something God calls sin.

· Each sin is like a brick that is placed between us and God and everyone has constructed a wall between themselves and God.

· Then when we live life, we just keep banging our head against that wall.

· That wall is so tall and wide that there is no way we can ever get back to God on our own and quite the opposite, we keep making it bigger and stronger.

· The problem is, our heart keep telling us that the answer is on the other side, but we just can’t seem to get over there.

· Then we hear a voice that says, look up and at the top of the wall someone is saying, I can help you, will you trust me?

· If you say, “Yes,” then He throws down a rope and pulls you up to the top of the wall.

D. God Makes A Way When There Seems To Be No Way

1) The enemy pursuing behind

2) A barrier blocking ahead

3) We may not see God moving. We may not perceive His moving. But He is. God is making a way for you.

4) He might just be sitting on top of the wall waiting for you to look up.

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