Merciful "No"
Someone once asked me if I would take a look at an atheist website that was created for the soul purpose of disproving God... The arguments and points were, in short, rediculous and though the guy had put a lot of time and effort into the website and his arguments, arguing against God just doesn't work. He'll just let you sit there, ranting and raving, while he just goes about his business... (ruling everything in existence). All of that is to say, the website didn't upset me in the slightest. Every time I hear someone bashing God, I just try to be respectful and a careful listener. Because tells us through Galatians 6:7...
"Do not be decieved: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."
And it comes back to me now that one of the main areas of a Christian's daily life was specifically attacked with some near fanatic passion that, I have to admit, was a little creepy. What was the thing that this guy hated so much?
Prayer.
He attacked in so many different ways, but the one thing I keep coming back to is when God doesn't answer our prayers. I used to think that God answered all prayers, for everyone...it was only that he said "no" as well as "yes."
I'm not sure if I believe this to be true. In James 1:5-7 it says...
"5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man will not recieve anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."
It may not be enough to simply say that God sometimes says "no" to some prayers.
God, when he does not grant the prayers of those asking with doubt (and/or suspect motives...my will over thy will), is being merciful. For the prayers of those asking improperly seem to be potentially dangerous, if granted. For they have no (or little) faith and do not fear God. Imagine a little child with a loaded gun and the child keeps trying to pull the trigger, because they think they know how to make it work...but God makes the trigger stick. And so no matter how hard the child tries to make this gun work, it doesn't, and so he throws a fit.
I know for a fact that God sometimes waits to answer prayer...that he stays silent. That we reach out to him and he does not speak to us. When he does do this, he is giving us the space we need to learn to desire him more, to reach out for him, to seek him, to learn patience, perseverence, obedience...
God is merciful in so many ways, and it just may be that we have often missed how merciful he is in sometimes not answering our prayers...
"Do not be decieved: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."
And it comes back to me now that one of the main areas of a Christian's daily life was specifically attacked with some near fanatic passion that, I have to admit, was a little creepy. What was the thing that this guy hated so much?
Prayer.
He attacked in so many different ways, but the one thing I keep coming back to is when God doesn't answer our prayers. I used to think that God answered all prayers, for everyone...it was only that he said "no" as well as "yes."
I'm not sure if I believe this to be true. In James 1:5-7 it says...
"5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man will not recieve anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."
It may not be enough to simply say that God sometimes says "no" to some prayers.
God, when he does not grant the prayers of those asking with doubt (and/or suspect motives...my will over thy will), is being merciful. For the prayers of those asking improperly seem to be potentially dangerous, if granted. For they have no (or little) faith and do not fear God. Imagine a little child with a loaded gun and the child keeps trying to pull the trigger, because they think they know how to make it work...but God makes the trigger stick. And so no matter how hard the child tries to make this gun work, it doesn't, and so he throws a fit.
I know for a fact that God sometimes waits to answer prayer...that he stays silent. That we reach out to him and he does not speak to us. When he does do this, he is giving us the space we need to learn to desire him more, to reach out for him, to seek him, to learn patience, perseverence, obedience...
God is merciful in so many ways, and it just may be that we have often missed how merciful he is in sometimes not answering our prayers...
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