Never has there been a song that had more truth to it than that particular song.
From cover to cover, the Bible teaches us the same thing this song teaches us: the answer to life's problems is prayer.
Some never learn that lesson because they never read their Bible or attend a church where this is really emphasized.
• Have you noticed the large number of people in our society who walk around complaining, as they face certain situations, “I do not know what to do?”
• There are others who do read their Bible from cover to cover, and they still have not discovered that prayer is the answer to all of our problems.
Prayer is our source of help. But when a child of God prays, their prayers tell us something about them, such as:
I. IT SHOWS THAT THEY RECOGNIZE THEIR DILEMMA
As we face life’s difficulties, we should recognize two things:
(1) There are problems WE CAN handle
God EXPECTS US TO HANDLE the things in life that WE CAN HANDLE!
• Some Christians remind us of parents that have grown children, and they are still taking care of these children who should be taking care of themselves. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG IN THIS SITUATION.
• Some Christians remind us of the hobos who stand on the street corner. They are perfectly healthy, but there they stand, holding their hands out, wanting someone to take care of them. Listen, they should take care of themselves. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG IN THIS SITUATION.
• Some Christians remind us of the liberals in this land. They want the taxpayers of this land to pay for their houses, baby sitters, health care, and medicine. Listen, the only thing they should be asking from Uncle Sam is the lifting of these heavy taxes that government has imposed on us, so we can take care of ourselves. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG IN THIS SITUATION.
Listen, when a nation, a church, or parents teach their children, their church members and their citizens not to depend on themselves, they are not helping them, they are destroying them.
The Lord expects us to take care of the things that we can take care of in our lives.
For example, remember when the Lord came to Lazarus’ tomb? There was a large rock there, and he told some men to remove the stone.
Now if the Lord wanted to, He could have said, “Stone be thou removed and cast into the sea,” and that stone would have been plucked up and cast into the sea.
But He did not do this. When it came to this stone being removed, it was something they could do, and the Lord told them to DO IT! The things we can do, God expects us to do.
A lot of people are waiting for God to do something, and God is waiting for them to do it.
There are problems we can handle, and ...
(2) There are problems WE CANNOT handle
In this life, we come into contact with some difficulties we cannot handle. We do not have the resources to deal with these problems.
For example, when the Lord came to Lazarus’ tomb, the men there had the strength and the knowledge to roll the stone out of the way, and God expected them to DO IT!
But when it came to raising Lazarus from the dead, this was something they could not do, and he had them stand back and LET HIM DO WHAT THEY COULD NOT DO!
God will help us if we will turn to Him to do what only He can do.
But so many times in life, when we face the difficulties of life, we turn …
• TO OURSELVES
• TO OTHERS
but not to the Lord Jesus.
It is only when situations in our lives get desperate that we will turn to God.
WHY ARE MEN LIKE THIS?
It is because most of the time they feel that they can handle life’s situations without the help of God.
We live in a society where people have made themselves little gods, and they are convinced that 99% of the time they can survive without calling on God. The reason they do not call on God is because they feel no need to do so.
There are those who say, "Preacher, I don't have time to pray!" Time is not their problem! Their problem is that they have too much confidence in SELF and OTHERS, and not enough in God, and that is why they do not call upon Him.
A praying Christian is one who has found the answer—He has learned to pray.
When we pray, IT SHOWS WE RECOGNIZE OUR DILEMMA of being helpless, and we are trusting God to do what we cannot do!
Also, when they pray-
II. IT SHOWS THAT THEY RECOGNIZE THEIR DEPENDENCE
God made it so that there are some things in this life that we are forced to depend on Him for.
For example, every day we depend on the Lord to allow the sun to shine and the rain to fall.
We are forced to depend on God for these things because we have no one else to turn to in situations like this.
Mankind depends on Him for all the NATURAL THINGS of life.
But when it comes to PERSONAL ISSUES, we find ourselves depending on OTHERS and OURSELVES.
There are some things in life that we have trust in:
• Our Financial Resources
• Our Talents
• Our Friends
But there are times when we face difficulties in our life, and none of these things are adequate for the things we face.
It is in those times, we have to come to the realization that we believe God loves us, and we place our trust in Him.
Look what the Lord says to you personally in 1 Peter 5:7. "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.''
• Did you know that anything that bothers you bothers Him?
• Did you know that there is nothing in our lives, so big or so small, that He does not care about it?
Look at Luke 18:1. We read, “And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”
Men OUGHT TO ALWAYS PRAY.
Look at our key verse, Jeremiah 33:3. He says, “Call unto me and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and might things which thou knowest not.”
Notice the two truths in this passage of scripture.
1. "CALL UNTO ME ….”
God knows we have that tendency to forget to call upon Him, so He reminds us in this passage ---“Call unto me…”
Remember what was said to Jonah. The heathen were calling upon their dead gods, and Jonah was sleeping when he should have been calling upon his living God. In the midst of the storm, He was rebuked by the unbeliever. He said "What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God,." (Jonah 1:6)
This same rebuke goes for every child of God who is trying to sleep through the storms of life. Wake up! Arise and call upon Him who can help you, and who loves you!
• Has sickness come? He bids you call upon Him for He is the Great Physician.
• Are you fearful because of raging waves that threaten to overpower you? Call upon Him, who one day walked on the deck of a tossing, sinking, ship and said, "Peace Be still!" And there was great calm.
The Bible is full of passages that tell us to call upon Him.
• In Psalm 50:15 we read, "Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee."
• In Psalm 62:8 we read, “Ye people, pour out your heart before him."
• In Isa. 55:6 we read, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon Him while He is near."
• In Matthew 7:7 we read, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
• In Matthew 26:41 we read, "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."
• In 1 Thess. 5:17 we read, "Pray without ceasing.”
• In Hebrews 4:16 we read, "Come boldly unto the throne of grace ...”
• In James 4:8 we read, "Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you."
Over and over, this Bible tells us we need to learn that we can handle the situations in life by LEARNING TO PRAY.
It is our responsibility to pray. He says, "Call unto me...”
2. "…AND I WILL ANSWER THEE ...”
The One who commands us to call upon Him is the same One who says, "And I will answer thee...”
Listen, for us to do our part and call upon God, and for God not to do His part and answer us as He promised He would, would make us better than God. We would have done our part and called upon Him as He said, but He would not have done His part by answering as He promised He would.
BUT THIS IS NOT THE CASE! The God who tells us to CALL, is the same GOD who ANSWERS when we call.
But God will always answer, and He will never snatch the safety net out from beneath us.
AS THE RAIN CLOUDS BRING THE RAIN, OUR PRAYERS BRING THE BLESSINGS.
He said, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee. I will shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
Notice, God said, "I will shew thee..."
As you come to God in the crossroads of life, God will show you which way to go, and what course of action to take.
Illus: Daniel came before Nebuchadnezzar, after he had a dream. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to know what the dream meant.
He had already sent for the soothsayers, the magicians, and the astrologers to interpret the dream, but they were not able to tell him the meaning of it.
So, finally, Daniel was brought before him and do you remember what Daniel did?
Look at Daniel 2:17-19. "Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven."
Daniel and his companions prayed, and God gave the interpretation to Daniel, and Daniel passed it along to Nebuchadnezzar.
God says, "Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
The reason men are confused today is because they do not know which way to turn, because they will not call upon God, who cares and will show them the way.
Conclusion:
Yes, the answer is in God's Word. God says, "You have not because you ask not." Prayer is the key to our individual life, and it is also the key to solving problems and making decisions in our churches.
Have you found the answer that Nat King Cole sang about? “I found the answer, I learned to pray.”
When a Christian prays, the prayers they pray tell us something about them.
I. IT SHOWS THAT THEY RECOGNIZE OUR DILEMMA
II. IT SHOWS THAT THEY RECOGNIZE OUR DEPENDENCE
