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The Problem of Unanswered Prayer
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Habakkuk 1:13, 2:4, 3:2
A small boy said to his father, "Hey, Dad, watch this!"
He then threw the ball into the air and swung the
bat fiercely, only to miss.
"Wait, Dad, watch this one," he said.
And for the second time he swung and missed.
Then a third time, "Here's the one, Dad!" but the result was the same.
Suddenly, the boy called out: "Three
strikes - and yer out," he yelled.
"Gee, Dad, aren't I a great pitcher?"
Prayer is not about getting our way, but
rather asking, is there another way of looking at life and our walk with God.
Two farmers were having a long bitter feud over a fence line.
The quarrel became more and more
spiteful until finally, under cover of darkness, one farmer went to the other's well and dropped bags of salt into
it to contaminate it.
He thought he would really show his opponent who was in charge, until a few days later
when he lifted water out of his own well and discovered that it had a salty taste; point being, both farmers' wells
shared a common underground water table.
In the same way, many of our deepest desires, whether made known or kept hidden, have a way of
infiltrating the entire substrata of our souls, that which sustains and waters our spirit.
Spiteful, salt-infused
prayer can wash its way throughout our whole being, contaminating us just as easily as that farmer's well.
Prayers can be bad for the soul, as well as good for it, depending on what you ask and the attitude with which
you offer it.
Or, in the words of Peter Marshall and Martin Luther King, Sr., and many others, "Be careful what
you pray for; you might get it."
There was this guy who was having a terrible time at life.
His boss was cranky; his wife has having fits
all the time and the kids were out of control.
He fell on his knees and prayed to God, “Lord, give me patience
in the midst of all my trials.”
(Smile now, you know what’s coming.)
The Lord answered him and granted his
request…, and life got worse.”
Did you get the point?
Lord, give me patience.
Okay, you’ve got it.
How do
you know?
Life gets worse and you find - you can bear it and overcome and claim the victory in faith.
Be
careful what you pray for?
Then again, be brave and pray for the impossible, for our God can provide!
In
Jesus' prayer life, there was a codicil to every one of his prayers, expressed or implied: "not what I will but what
You will."
This codicil is the solution to the problem of unanswered prayer.
In life there are optimists, pessimists and Woody Allen.
From his film Love and Death (1975) Allen
looks at life with all its suffering and hardship, all its evil and misery, and boldly concludes that there is no God
and that suicide is probably the most reasonable response to the angst of existence - only to quickly catch
2
himself and consider, "Well, let's not get hysterical, I could be wrong.”
Throughout his films, Allen kept asking
the questions of life's ultimate meaning and considered the possibility that there is a God, and that this God
cares about humanity.
In the movie Love and Death (1975), Diane Keaton’s character cries out, "Oh, if only
God would just give me some sign.
If He would just speak to me once - anything; one sentence, two words.
If
He would just cough.”
Have you ever felt God wasn’t listening?
If "prayer has always been a problem," as one theologian argued, then the problem of unanswered prayer
has always been the worst part of the problem.
People of faith have always struggled most when God seems
distant or hidden from view, or when our prayers, breathed fervently in the air, drop with a hollow thud inches
in front of our feet.
Today’s Scriptures offer two different, but related, responses to such moments in our spiritual desert. 2
Timothy 3:14-4:5 insists that we "keep the faith" - that is, keep nurturing, keep vital and alive what has been
passed on to you.
It also means keeping faith with those who have helped you along the way by lifting them up
in prayer.
These are prayers that do not demand an "answer."
Rather, they are instead answers themselves answering the tests made on your spirit, with a remembrance of all the faithful who have helped bring you to
where you are today.
Even as others have prayed for us, so we then are to offer prayers of thanksgiving for
their faithfulness to us.
As Paul counsels Timothy, we find the "answers" to our "unanswered" prayers in Scripture and
throughout the tradition of the body of Christ.
When we become members of the church, we pledge to support
her with our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service.
Did you catch what was first?
Prayers first and
foremost, followed by attendance at worship, meetings and activities, followed by our tithes, gifts and offerings
and then last, but not least, our service for the good of the church and the Kingdom of God.
In the midst of all
this, we may well find the answer to our prayers, if we but “keep the faith.”
From Habakkuk's situation we gain another perspective on the powers and purposes of prayer.
The
prayer that opens the book of Habakkuk may be seen as that prophet's scolding remarks to a deity he knows is
watching, yet seems slow to move into action.
In chapter 2, Habakkuk is now faced with something he did not
expect - a "wrong" answer from God.
Having called on God to correct the injustice in his day and imposed
upon his people, Habakkuk is horrified by the "cure" God prescribes – which is a period of a complete
overthrow and occupation by the Babylonians.
Looking for divine justice, Habakkuk only gets the assurance
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that new, foreign injustices must soon be endured.
But Habakkuk does not rail against God for not answering
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