When God Doesn t Come Through

Transcription

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2 Luke 2:36-39 There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.

3 She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.

4 She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment,

5 she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36-39

6 I don t see any difference it makes what characteristics God has: He still doesn t seem very interested in us! And what good does believing in a God with person-like characteristics do if He s not personally interested in you or me. And here s another aspect of religion I ve never understood: prayer. If God is personally interested in us, as you say, we presumably can talk to him. But does He listen? I don t think so.

7 Think how many millions of Jewish parents banged God s ear off during the Holocaust? All they got was silence. Where was his personal concern for them? The Bible has it that he saved them from the Egyptians by parting the Red Sea. But this time He seems to have been preoccupied with other more pressing issues. So if God is personally interested in us, why is prayer so totally unsuccessful? I fail to recall any

8 time in my life where the prayers of anyone were really answered. Tony used to always say that Leona and Grandma Raz were powerful pray-ers. I always wondered what made them powerful, because their prayers seemed pretty powerless to me. Leona lumped her prayers into novenas and prayed until her knees gave out. And I always felt her success in getting God s attention and getting her prayers answered were just about the

9 same as the odds of chance. When Arylye was dying, we all prayed till we were blue in the face. Even you kids prayed. Maybe God doesn t listen to the prayers of sinful adults, but He should have at least heard the cries of you kids! Instead, you kids were left motherless and that set in motion a rather unfortunate history you yourself know only too well. If God had been personally concerned about us, Greg, He d have spared your mother and spared all of us a tremendous amount of pain.

10 John 14:13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

11 John 14:14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

12 John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

13 Matthew 18:19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

14 Mark 9:28-29 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, Why couldn t we drive it out? He replied, This kind can come out only by prayer [and fasting].

15 Daniel 10:12-13 The angel said: Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God,

16 your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.

17 Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the prince of Persia. Daniel 10:12-13

18 1. Most biblical promises are principles not formulas. Prov. 22:6 Train a child in the way that he should go, and when he s grown he will never depart from it.

19 1. Most biblical promises are principles not formulas. 2. The world is unfathomably complex, and caught in war. Many variables condition how the power of prayer affects the world.

20 3. Faith is the substance of things hoped for [anticipated] not a psychological certainty about an outcome.

21 4. Know that your prayer is powerful and effective (James 5:16), whatever the outcome. 5. Know that God s heart and will is revealed in Jesus Christ.