Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life and an excellent means of communication with our Heavenly Father. We can express our deepest longings, fears, joys, and hopes through prayer, seek God's guidance and help and intercede for others. However, sometimes it seems God is not answering our prayers, and we wonder why.
It is essential to understand that God always hears our prayers and is a loving and compassionate God who cares deeply for us. However, the answer to our prayers may sometimes differ from what we expect or want. Sometimes, God answers our prayers with a "yes," with a "no," and sometimes with a "wait." We must trust God's timing and wisdom, knowing He has our best interests at heart.
In the previous sermons, we learned three possibilities for why God doesn't give our requests. Number one is our prayers may not align with God's will. 1 John 5:14 says: "And this is the confidence we have in him, that he hears us if we ask anything according to his will." Number two is that we may pray selfishly or with the wrong motives. James 4:3 says, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Number three is because we may be praying for something God has decided, and He has set a specific time to fulfill it. We learn how God has appointed the Israelites forty years to wander in the wilderness and seventy years to live in captivity. Before that time was fulfilled, even though they prayed and fasted to enter or return to the Promised Land, God would not hear their prayers.
Today we will continue with the fourth possibility, which is there is a sin that we haven't confessed. Let's read these verses. In Psalm 66:18, king David said, "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." Prophet Isaiah told his people: "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear." (Isaiah 59:1-2). Apostle Peter warns husbands to treat their wives with respect so that nothing will hinder their prayers." (1 Peter 3:7).
What do those verses mean? Does it mean that God will not hear the prayers of sinners? Aren't all people sinners? If that is true, that means God will not hear any prayer! Some verses in the Bible describe God hearing and answering the prayers of sinners or unbelievers, and God responded to the cry of the hearts.
In some cases, prayer is combined with repentance. But in other cases, the prayer was simply for an earthly need or blessing, and God responded either out of compassion or in response to the genuine seeking of the person's faith. Here are some passages dealing with prayer by an unbeliever:
The people of Nineveh prayed that Nineveh might be spared (Jonah 3:5-10). God answered this prayer and did not destroy the city of Nineveh as He had threatened. Hagar asked God to protect her son Ishmael (Genesis 21:14-19). God not only saved Ishmael, but God also blessed him exceedingly. In 1 Kings 21:17-29, especially verses 27-29, Ahab fasts and mourns over Elijah's prophecy concerning his posterity, and God responds by not bringing about the calamity in Ahab's time. The Gentile woman from the Tyre and Sidon area prayed that Jesus would deliver her daughter from a demon (Mark 7:24-30). Jesus cast the demon out of the woman's daughter. Today, in His love and mercy (under ''the Common Grace''), God still listens to the prayers of sinners or unbelievers for help. Many families in Turkey prayed to ask God to save their family members who were under ruined buildings or construction, and God saved some of them. On Feb 14, Reuters wrote: "Nine survivors were rescued from the rubble in Turkey on Tuesday, more than a week after a massive earthquake struck."
If God sometimes also listens to the prayers of sinners or those who don't believe in Jesus Christ, what do those verses about sins that hinder our prayers mean? The object of those verses is God's children, who have been made righteous in Christ Jesus. Since we are already justified by God, knowing Him, His characters, and His truth, we may not live in sin anymore. Sin creates a barrier between God and us, and unconfessed sin in our lives can hinder our prayers. Therefore, we must repent of our sins, seek God's forgiveness, and must live in His holiness so that God hears our prayers. That is why I come to God every night to ask His forgiveness for the sins I may have committed, said, or thought throughout the day.
The fifth possibility is God already answered our prayers, but we don't realize it. We sometimes are like little kids who are hungry and ask for French fries to their parents. When their parents gave them salmon, they refused and said, "I want fries, not fish!" The kids didn't know that fish was better for them than fries. God may have answered our prayers, but we didn't know because He gave us something that seemed different but better than we asked. For example, We asked for strength, and God gave us difficulties to make us strong; We asked for wisdom, and God gave us problems to learn to solve; We asked for prosperity, and God gave us brain and muscle to work; We asked for courage, and God gave us dangers to overcome; We asked for love, and God gave us people to help; We asked for favors, and God gave us opportunities. We received nothing we wanted, but we received everything we needed. God has answered our prayers!
We must believe in God's wisdom and accept His sovereignty to do and give whatever He wants. God is our Creator, and He loves us so much. To close my sermon series on "Unanswered Prayers," I want to share the true story of Lee Jong-Rak. Like other couples, Lee and his wife pray to have children. God answered their prayers, but in a different way. Here is his interview with Risen Magazine regarding what happened with his son when he was born: "We had a C-section, and the doctor pulled out the baby and showed me that the baby had a huge lump on his face. The first thought that came to mind was, "God, why did you give me such an unhealthy baby?" But God didn't waste time to convict me. In about 30 seconds, He convicted me. "Didn't I tell you to rejoice and be thankful all the time and in all things? Don't you know that I am the God who works through all things?" I was really convicted, and I repented right then and there. We were separated right away from our baby because they had to do surgery. I couldn't share the news with my wife right away. I told her about a week later. My wife, although she cried, she took it well."
When his son was four months old, he got an infection and couldn't breathe. He prayed and cried to God to save his son. His son survived, but the lack of oxygen supply damaged his brain. He is paralyzed and cannot do anything except blink his eyes. It was a challenging experience for Lee. But he said, "Through my experience, God made me pray. He made me listen to His word. God drew me closer to Him through my son. Through the suffering, I could confess to God how much I loved Him. I prayed that I would become a good father and that I could take care of my son. All I could do was surrender to God. I realized that nothing is under my control. That's when I realized it is up to God, and that is when I surrendered my life and my son's life. I could hear Him say, "Trust me with your life. Do not worry about anything." I went to a prayer mountain and just prayed. The pain turned into thanksgiving, and I could live a life that glorified God."
His son spent the first 14 years of his life in the hospital. During this time, he visited the rooms of other patients. He offered prayers and shared the Gospel with them. Many of them became believers and experienced the miraculous works of God. Lee sensed God's call to be a pastor. His experience as a father to one disabled child inspired him to become the father of many. Pastor LeeJong-Rak is the man behind the "baby box," a method of saving unwanted children in Seoul, where hundreds of babies are abandoned in trash cans and public restrooms and on the streets each year. As it turns out, the baby box is the last hope for many. Since 2009, Lee's baby box has saved 1,600 children, some deposited there only hours after birth. Some babies have disabilities, some have been conceived in rape or incest, and some are left in the baby box because of other difficult circumstances. Lee and his staff generally have up to 20 children in their care, and he and his wife have adopted ten (the maximum number of children South Koreans can adopt). They receive a new child through the box every few days, provide initial care for the child, then hand them over to the police, who help place the child in an orphanage. Sometimes the answers to our prayers may differ from what we expected or wanted. But we must trust in God's perfect will and His better plan. If you have a prayer that God hasn't answered, maybe you should evaluate yourself if you have a sin that you need to confess and ask for His forgiveness. Let us continue to pray without ceasing, knowing that God is always with us and will never leave us or forsake us. Amen.
