Tentpegs

This came into tentpegsquestion@yahoo.com and reminds me that even when I think I’ve covered something… maybe there is more to be said.

In the gospel of John, Jesus promises that whatever believers ask in his name will be done. Yet, we don’t see this happening. I’m not talking about asking for wealth or fame or for the cute girl in my class to say “yes” when I ask her out. I’m talking about requests such as praying for a young mother not to die and orphan her children. How do we reconcile these promises with our lived experience?

This was one of the first issues we dealt with back in the infancy of Tentpegs. As I said then, unanswered prayer has given me more of my faith crises than any other issue. I struggled with it as a child, as a young man, as a father, and I struggle with it today.

I believe in prayer. I believe that prayer can do wonderful, incredible things. I’ve seen it do so too many times to doubt that. Still, there are other times when I have been greeted by silence from heaven… and nothing more. It seems that shortly after such disappointing and confusing times I am always asked to preach on prayer! Yikes.

When we look at Jesus’ promise to give the apostles whatever they prayed for, we need to examine that passage the same way we do other passages. I am not a fan of books that just list the promises of God — they leave out condemnations, lonely psalms, cries in the dark, and many other things we find in scripture. Sometimes I think we are forging God’s name on a lot of checks and that can’t be a good thing. We are saying He made promises He didn’t make.

First things first. The passage referred to is in John 14:13. Jesus has just told his apostles that he is going to leave them, but he will not leave them alone. They are confused, frightened, incredulous, and a little angry — no doubt. He promises them a Comforter, a Being sent from God who will walk alongside them and help them carry their burdens. He also assures them of his continued assistance by saying “”Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

This assistance was to help them continue the mission they had started together — it was not a promise to give them universal magic powers. And it was certainly NOT a promise to all believers everywhere. His little band was terrified that, without Jesus’ constant presence in the flesh, their mission would be over and they would be scattered to the winds. Israel would never have their Messiah and the kingdom of God on earth would end before it began. Jesus assured them that they were wrong — the kingdom was coming and he was the Messiah — but this was a team effort involving the Holy Spirit and their faith. Their prayers would be answered insofar as they brought glory to God and the Son.

Those prayers would have to be made “in the name of the Son.” We have a hard time understanding the power of names in the first century (and still today in many cultures). Think of it this way: I cannot come to your house today and pound on the door saying “open up in the name of the law!” Well, I guess I

could

do that but it wouldn’t be legal or right because I don’t have the right to speak for the law or in its name.

So let’s give me that right. Let’s say I am a Detroit police officer. I still cannot come to your door and say “open up in the name of the law” unless the law has given me permission to enter your home — a warrant. In the same way, there are tons of things I cannot ask God to do in the Name of Jesus if Jesus didn’t give us permission to do so. That’s why the old country song “O Lord, Won’t You Buy Me A Mercedes Benz?” was so funny. We all knew the Lord wasn’t into the car buying business. And we all wished He was.

The promise was given to the apostles, not everyone. And they got the promise to help them complete their mission on earth, not to make their lives easy or, indeed, to save their lives and those of others. Sometimes, God would save their lives, but Jesus made it plain to his apostles that prayer was not a “get out of trouble free” card. He told them that all but one would be killed for their faith and, of course, he gave them an example of unanswered prayer by praying for the cup to be removed from him… and it wasn’t. And he prayed fervently! (I’ve never sweated like blood. Have you?)

James — Jesus’ brother — jumps in here and says we don’t ask for the right things, we tend to ask for selfish reasons instead of kingdom reasons, and we forget the point of our struggles: not escape, but victory over them.

Every person Jesus ever healed or raised from the dead died again later. He made it very plain by this that prayer was not a guarantee that we would never die, get sick, lose a job, or fail in marriage. Prayer is there to help us develop the mind of Christ, to think like God, to see things through His eyes, and to expend ourselves in kingdom causes. Taking this passage out of context and not checking to see why it was said, to whom it was said, and what the ramifications of that is has caused a ton of heartache as people offer prayers like magic incantations and then decide Jesus doesn’t like them or doesn’t exist because they heard nothing from heaven.

Even prayers that seem righteous sometimes aren’t. I’ll give you a personal example. I prayed and prayed that God would allow me to go to a certain country and preach to the unreached people there. It was important to me. I spent my days — for over a year — making plans, praying, gathering the funds and physical support I would need… only to have it all go away. I stomped into my front room and railed at God. “Don’t you love those people?” I challenged. “You claim you love them, but I must love them more than you. I’m willing to go but You’re not willing to lift a finger to help me!” I knew I was dangerously close to a line, but I was angry and, when you’re angry, you might as well tell God since… He knows anyway…

Later — years later — I went through a series of changes. I learned that much of my doctrine was man-based and that my life was not nearly as good and pure as I had claimed it was. Only then did I realize why God was silent that day. Yes, He loved those people, but I was the wrong man to send to them. He loved them too much to send me there among them! I truly believe the old song that says “Farther along, we’ll know all about it. Farther along, we’ll understand why.”

Look at the prayer he modeled for us. There is a simple request to help us have enough to eat that day, the strength to forgive those who have hurt us, and a plea that the kingdom of God would live on earth through us. That’s it. Hmmmm.