“If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”- Psalm 66:18
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”- 2 Corinthians 5:21
Timothy Keller concludes Chapter 14 of Prayer by reminding us that, in the end, there is no such thing as “unanswered prayers.” Yet, he acknowledges, that reasoning will seem quite superficial when our most desperate, heart-felt requests have been denied.
Pastor Keller emphasizes that we can be confident God will answer us when we call because when Jesus was on the cross God did not answer Jesus when He called. As sinners, we deserve to have our prayers go unanswered. Jesus, however, deserved to have His prayers answered because He lived a perfect life.
The author notes that God treated Jesus as we deserve so that, as believers, God can then treat us as Jesus deserved:
“We know that God will answer us when we call ‘my God’ because God did not answer Jesus when he made the same petition on the cross. For Jesus, “the heavens were brass”; he got the Great Silence so we could know that God hears and answers. . . . All because of Jesus, and all in his name.”
Today’s question: How has the Holy Spirit helped you develop patience in the fact of seemingly unanswered prayer? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Framework for daily prayer”
