Lesson 19: The Certainty of the Answer to Prayer part 3
There may be cases in which the answer is a refusal, because the request is not according to God’s Word, as when Moses asked to enter Canaan. But still, there was an answer: God did not leave His servant in uncertainty as to His will. The gods of the heathen are dumb and cannot speak. Our Father lets His child know when He cannot give him what he asks, and he withdraws his petition, even as the Son did in Gethsemane. Both Moses the servant and Christ the Son knew that what they asked was not according to what the Lord had spoken; their prayer was the humble supplication whether it was not possible for the decision to be changed. God will teach those who are teachable and give him time, by His Word and Spirit, whether their request be according to His will or not. Let us withdraw the request, if it be not according to God’s mind, or persevere till the answer comes. Prayer is appointed to obtain the answer. It is in prayer and its answer that the interchange of love between the Father and His child takes place.
How deep the separation of our heart from God must be, that we find it so difficult to grasp such promises. Even while we accept the words and believe their truth, the faith of the heart that fully has them and rejoices in them, comes so slowly. It is because our spiritual life is still so weak, and the capacity for taking God’s thoughts is so feeble. But let us look to Jesus to teach us as none but He can teach. If we take His words in simplicity, and trust Him by His Spirit to make them within us life and power, they will so enter into our inner being that the spiritual Divine reality of the truth they contain will indeed take possession of us. We shall not rest content until every petition we offer is borne heavenward on Jesus’ own words: “Ask, and it shall be given you.”
Beloved fellow-disciples, let us set ourselves to learn this lesson well. Let us take these words just as they were spoken. Let us not allow human reason to weaken their force. Let us take them as Jesus gives them, and believe them. He will teach us how to understand them fully. We begin by truly believing them. Let us take time, as often as we pray, to listen to His voice. Everyone who asks receives. Let us not make the feeble experiences of our unbelief the measure of what our faith may expect. Let us seek, not only just in our seasons of prayer, but at all times, to hold fast the joyful assurance that man’s prayer on earth and God’s answer in heaven are meant for each other. Let us trust Jesus to teach us so to pray that the answer can come. He will do it if we hold fast the word He gives today. “Ask, and you shall receive.”
Prayer: Oh Lord Jesus, teach me to understand and believe what You have promised me. It is not hidden from You, Oh my Lord, with what reasonings my heart seeks to satisfy itself, when no answer comes. There is the thought that my prayer is not in harmony with the Father’s secret counsel, that there is perhaps something better You would give me, or that prayer as fellowship with God is blessing enough without an answer. And yet, my blessed Lord, I find in Your teaching on prayer that You did not speak of these things, but said so plainly that prayer may and must expect an answer. You assure us that this is the fellowship of a child with the Father, the child asks and the Father gives.