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NASB | Jeremiah 29:12 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Jeremiah 29:12 'Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you. |
Subject: 1 Thess. 5:17 |
Bible Note: This is a good opportunity for us to understand what preachers mean when they say that God always answers our prayers but sometimes the answer is No. How do we know when the answer is No? And for those who say that another answer is “Wait” one might ask how we can determine which one it is. I think we must acknowledge that there are times when God does not even hear our prayers. There are also times when he does not answer. Moses (Deuteronomy 3) refers to a time when “the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me”. I take that to mean the Lord would not listen, and would not even consider the request. Samuel described a condition under which “You shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day” (1 Samuel 8). Job cried in despair, “I cry unto you, and you do not hear me: I stand up, and you regard me not" (Job 30). David knew it: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66). When prayers are not answered, God says that is one of the reasons (Isaiah 59): “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear". David prayed, “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear” (Psalm 22). Isaiah reports the Lord saying, “When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear" (Isaiah 1). The Lord told Jeremiah (chapter 7), “Do not pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear you”. These examples should suffice to show there are times when God does not even listen to our prayers, not even to consider our requests. But there are also times when he listens but does not answer. Jesus did it. A woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil”. But he answered her not a word (Matthew 15). He indicated that there are times, as then, when God will not answer right away, but only after he has seen our importunity (Luke 18). It is one of the reasons we should keep on asking, when we know that our prayers are according to his will. He will answer when he knows the time is right. It’s what he did with the slaves in Egypt. He had heard their cry. Eventually he responded by coming down to deliver them (Exodus 3). There are some times when God says, “Wait”. It is what he said to Habakkuk. When the prophet complained, “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! … and you will not save!” the Lord said, “I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you” (Chapter 1). But he does not leave us to interpret silence as a "No", or even as a “Wait”. The prophet decided to wait for an answer, and he got it. “The LORD answered me, and said, ‘Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that reads it. … Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come’” (chapter 2). “Wait” is something that he says sometimes, even when we have not prayed. But again, he says it, and he does not leave us to infer it from his silence. The fact is, many of our prayers are already answered, and we need only to find it. That is the case with questions we may ask the Lord. The answers are in the word of God. But when we ask for things, we need not invent answers or assume that God is saying “No” or “Wait”. Ordinarily, an answer means we get what we have requested. Instead of saying “No” it is God’s way to show us his will instead, so we can pray for it and get it. That is what he did for Paul (2 Corinthians 12). That is what he did for Jesus (Luke 22:42,42; Hebrews 5:7). May God help us to understand his will and to pray in accordance with it. Then we will have our prayers answered. |