Bible Study - Tuesday 17th August 2021
Prayer
Welcome to today’s Bible Study. I am following a small group study book on the subject of “God Given Longings”, by Elizabeth McQuoid.
The first of these is the longing for God to answer our prayers.
If only God Would…….
1) I wonder, what did we pray for this morning? For a spouse perhaps, a relative, a friend, a nation or a situation that we want to see changed?
We may have been praying for something good and, indeed, in our church on Canvey we have been praying for many good things all through lockdown and beyond. We have seen many blessings and positive answers where people and situations have been blessed, helped and transformed by God’s gracious touch.
But there have been times when our prayers may not have been answered in the way that we would have longed for. How did this leave us feeling? I suspect that feelings such as disappointment, grief, doubt, confusion or even anger may have resulted when our longed for outcomes did not come about.
If so, then we are in good company! The Psalmists felt all of those emotions and their poems and psalms are packed with examples of people crying out to God for intervention and when things don’t go the way they think, their prayers give way to complaints and words of anger, hurt and despair.
These Psalms, however, go on to show that God can not only deal with our raw emotions but, also, amidst their strength and passion, go on to challenge our skewed perspectives. Sometimes we are so consumed by what we want God to do for us that we lose sight of him, and our desires can actually end up in stealing our affection for him.
Perhaps these supposedly unanswered prayers are God’s way of showing us something bigger; are his way of readjusting our set to awaken our longings for him.
Let’s read. Psalm 13[a]
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
Footnotes
a.Psalm 13:1 In Hebrew texts 13:1-6 is numbered 13:2-6.
What does the Bible say?
2) According to verses 1-4, what is David, the writer of this psalm longing for?
3) How would you describe David’s state of mind?
4) In the face of unanswered prayer, how does David respond?
Going Deeper:
5).What kind of things have other believers asked God for? Look at:
Nehemiah 2:1-5; Artaxerxes Sends Nehemiah to Jerusalem
Nehemiah’s request.
2 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, 2 so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”
I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
6) Why may God not always answer our prayers?
2Corinthians12:7-9;
7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Job 38:1-7;
Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
Job42:1-6; Then Job replied to the Lord:
2 “I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
7) According to 1 John 3:1-3, why should we not be surprised at unmet desires and unfulfilled longings?
3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Comment
Prayer is not merely a way to get things from God, but……is the way to get more of God himself. Prayer is a striving to ‘take hold of God’ the way in ancient times people took hold of a cloak of a great man as they appealed to him, or the way in modern times we embrace someone to show love.
(Isaiah 64:7. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to[a] our sins.).
(Tim Keller, Prayer, p.21)
What did Jesus have to say about prayer?
Jesus was approached by one of his disciples who had seen the way John the Baptist’s followers had prayed, and he longed to do the same.
a)Luke 11:1-4; New International Version. Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father,[a]. hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.[b] 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]. And lead us not into temptation.[d]’”
Footnotes
a.Luke 11:2 Some manuscripts Our Father in heaven
b.Luke 11:2 Some manuscripts come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
c.Luke 11:4 Greek everyone who is indebted to us
d.Luke 11:4 Some manuscripts temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
b) Psalm 51: 1 reminds us of God's immense forgiving love as we approach him in prayer.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Prayer has two core components and these are clearly expressed in King David’s great prayer. They are, repentance and request. Repentance is the prayer that recognises our total dependence upon God.
St Paul speaks of the need to be joyful in prayer
c).1Thessalonians 5: 12-24
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Prayer presents a challenge and a mystery to all. It’s easy to feel discouraged with prayer that seems to go unanswered. In prayer we engage in warfare in God’s name, and war disrupts all of life. God's promises are always fiercely contested and we are invited to enrol in the battle and to make God’s cause our cause.
Living it out
8) How can we make sure our prayers stay focussed on God rather than becoming like a shopping list of requests?
9) What may God be teaching us through our “unanswered prayer”.
10) In what practical ways can we mirror David’s response in Verses 5-6 of Psalm 13?
(5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.)
The problem is if God is not the starting point, then our own perceived emotional needs become the drivers and, if we are not careful, the sole focus of our prayer…..
We should not decide how to pray based on the experiences and feelings we want. Instead we should do everything possible to behold our God as he is,and prayer will follow. The more clearly we grasp who God is, the more our prayer is shaped and determined accordingly. (Tim Keller, Prayer , pp 61-62).
Our Prayers:
One of the hymns which speaks about prayer is STF529.
Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Unuttered or expressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.
Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach
The Majesty on high.
Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
The Christian’s native air,
His watchword at the gates of death—
He enters Heav’n with prayer.
Prayer is the contrite sinner’s voice,
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice
And cry, “Behold, he prays!”
O Thou by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer Thyself hast trod—
Lord, teach us how to pray!
James Montgomry (1771-1854).
In conclusion "God is not a [vending] machine; but is instead, a communion of persons. Prayer is not a form of payment, but is the language of a relationship. That relationship, between ourselves and God, is not one of master to machine, but one between persons. It is a relationship of love and not of servility." Our prayers are not just a to-do list for God.
(Calvary Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, USA.)
In reality there are no unanswered prayers. God hears us every time we pray. He may say ‘no’ if we are asking with selfish motives, or for something that would do us (or the people we are praying for ) no good.
With hindsight we may come to see that God could see “the bigger picture” the eternal perspective and that he knew what would further his good purposes .
He might, of course, just be saying “wait” because it is not the right time for what we are asking or because he wants to stretch our faith or to help us to learn to trust him more.
Or……..He might say ‘Yes’.
Think back to the requests that you had in mind as we began our study today. Ask God to answer your prayers according to his will. (Luke 22:42-42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”) and to help you to be satisfied in God, not just in the gifts he gives; to transform your longings so that our deepest desire is for him alone.
Amen.