Not long ago, I was
reading about the early years of one of Christianity’s most influential
thinkers—C.S. Lewis. This intellectual giant converted to Christ in his
mid-life after espousing atheism for decades as an Oxford university professor.
What struck me about his testimony is what started him down the path of
unbelief was none other than the hurt of unanswered prayer.
At the age of thirteen, a
young Lewis prayed for two things—for his mother to be healed from terminal
cancer and for his father to let him leave the harsh environment of a boarding
school. Neither of these prayers were answered in the way that Lewis desired and
because of his disillusionment with prayer, C.S. Lewis turned away from
Christianity as a lad.[1]
Later on as a mature Christian,
Lewis wrote about prayer like this: “The essence of a request, as distinct from
compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted. And if an infinitely wise
Being listens to requests of finite and foolish creatures, of course He will
sometimes grant them and sometimes refuse them.” Lewis also went on to say that
if we always got what we asked for then prayer would be more like “magic—that
is, a power in certain humans to control God and the course of nature.”[2]
In Jesus’ Sermon on the
Mount He taught this prayer principle, “7 Ask, and it will be
given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened
to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks
finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or
which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a
stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a
serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father
who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
In one way or another, God
answers our prayers in His own timing and in His own unique way. The problem is
that we often interpret God’s “No’s” as neglect and His delays as His denials.
Jesus teaches us that when
God answers our prayers He will always do so in a way that will have our best
interest and character development in mind. Notice that His argument is from
the lesser to the greater. No father would give their toddler a loaded gun
because they found it in the sock drawer. No father is going to turn their
teenage daughter who just got her license loose on the roads with a brand new
Camaro.
Sometimes we ask for a
snake and God wants to give us fish. We beg for a stone, but God knows we need
bread. We need to trust that our Heavenly Father is too loving and wise to
always say, “Yes,” to every request, even if God’s “No” means suffering and
pain. Aren’t you glad that we have a God who will not give us something good in
place of what it best?
Ruth Graham (late wife of
Billy Graham) once told an audience once, “If God would have granted every
prayer of mine then I would have married the wrong man seven times.” Ruth also
penned the words of this poem called, “A Mother’s Unanswered Prayer.”
Had I been Joseph’s mother I’d have prayed protection
from his brothers:
“God, keep him safe; he is so young, so different from
the others.”
Mercifully, she never knew there would be slavery and
prison, too.
Had I been Moses’ mother I’d have wept to keep my little
son for me;
And I would have thwarted the plan for God’s people to
be free.
Had I been Mary—Oh, had I been she, I would have cried
as never a mother cried,
“… Anything, O God, anything …but crucified!”
With such prayers persistent my finite wisdom would
assail
God, how fortunate Infinite Wisdom should prevail![3]
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