The world according to God

In his chapter on "The World" in 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know, JI Packer considers the different ways we might regard the world - physical, geographical, racial, anthropological, sociological, cultural...and even personal (think "welcome to my world.")  And then there is the biblical view. 

The biblical idea of the world covers approximately the same area of meaning as our secular notions does.  It likewise denotes this earth with its cosmic environment, and men upon it, or sometimes mankind alone.  There are words both in Hebrew and Greek translated "world" in the English Bible, which mean simply "the habitable (or inhabited) earth."  Yet the standpoint from which the Bible speaks of "the world" is quite different from ours.  For in the Bible "world" is a theological word - a word, that is , which is defined in terms of God.  "The world" is always, and emphatically God's world - the order of things which He made, which He owns, and which He rules, despite all His creatures' efforts to cast off His sway.  The reference-point of the biblical idea of the word therefore, is not man, but God.  What we have to do now is to learn to think of the world God-centredly, as the Bible presents it - not always as it appears to human inspection, but as God sees it, and thinks of it.  For the thoughts of God about it are the measure of what it really is.

From 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know  by JI Packer chapter four, page 55-56.

A helpful reminder that the world doesn't revolve around us.

My everyday prayer from The Valley of Vision

O Thou Most High,
Creator of the ends of the earth,
Governor of the universe,
Judge of all men,
Head of the church,
Saviour of sinners;
           thy greatness is unsearchable,
           thy goodness infinite,
           thy compassions unfailing,
           thy providence boundless,
           thy mercies ever new.
We bless thee for the words of salvation.
How important, suitable, encouraging are the doctrines, promises, and invitations of the gospel of peace!
We are lost: but in it thou hast presented to us a full, free and eternal salvation;
           weak: but here we learn that help is found in One that is mighty,
           poor: but in him we discover unsearchable riches,
           blind: but we find he has treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
We thank thee for thy unspeakable gift.
Thy Son is our only refuge, foundation, hope, confidence;
We depend upon his death,
          rest in his righteousness,
          desire to bear his image;
May his glory fill our minds,
          his love reign in our affections,
          his cross inflame us with ardour.
Let us as Christians fill our various situations in life,
           escape the snares to which they expose us,
           discharge the duties that arrives from our circumstances,
           enjoy with moderation their advantages,
           improve with diligence their usefulness,
And may every place and company we are in be benefitted by us.
Amen

This is a prayer from The Valley of Vision.  I have blogged an excerpt from it once before but this is it in its entirety.  It's from the prayers at the back of the book - a series of set prayers for morning and evening.  This one is the prayer for the sixth morning of the week. 

But it is the prayer that I find myself praying almost every day, not just on the sixth morning of the week.  It provides me with a picture of the True God.  It shows me the true me.  It shows me what God has done for me in Jesus.  And it shows what is good for me to do, day by day, in light of all of these things.  Hour by hour, what I need to recall in this equation changes - and I find different parts of this prayer coming to mind, as circumstances warrant.

The other prayers for the rest of the week, morning and evening, are excellent too.  But for months now, this one has been my everyday prayer.

Book spine poetry: The Pilgrim's Progress

Jean has tagged me in a book spine poetry meme.  Ali had done some.  Here are some other examples.

And here's mine.  The top book is the title.

The Pilgrim's Progress

What am I doing here?
Please understand me,
Hard times.
Calm my anxious heart.
Stirrings of the soul,
Sometimes gladness,
Surprised by joy,
O love that will not let me go,
A fortunate life.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Now to tag some others.  Here are the rules.

• Create a book spine poem.
• Take a picture.
• Post it on your blog.
• Link back to this post.
• Tag another blogger, or two, or ten.

Tagging Matt, Rebecca, Ally, Jenny, Karen, Sharon, Amy, Sarah and Wendy.

And if there is anyone out there who doesn't have a blog but wants to have a go, feel free to send me your photo in an email and I will post it here for you.

Thus saith the Lord

I've been doing a group Bible study on prayer lately and one of the studies makes the point that prayer is talking to God, not listening to Him.  God doesn't speak to us in prayer.  We speak to Him.  I was talking to my husband about this, who cleverly observed that it can be quite easy to get the wrong impression about God speaking to us, personally and audibly, from the pages of the Old Testament.

You see, God spoke to Adam and Eve and Cain.
He spoke to Noah.
And Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He spoke to Moses.
And Joshua.
God spoke to  Gideon.
He spoke to Samuel and Nathan.
And to Elijah and Elisha.
And God spoke to all those prophets who have books of the Old Testament named after them.
There may be others. These are the ones I can recall off the top of my head.

And when you put all the things He said to that collection of people together, it accounts for a good part of the Old Testament.  Pages and pages and pages of God speaking personally and audibly.  That's a lot of God speaking.  But He only spoke to a small selection of people.  Count them up.  There aren't that many of them, for all the words of God recorded in the Bible.

It was the responsibility of this small group to pass on the message of His words to the multitudes.  God didn't speak to each and every Israelite camped out at Mt Sinai or to the wayward kings and commoners of Judah, Israel, Egypt or even Ninevah.  Just to a handful of people whose role it was to pass on the message. 

And then in the New Testament He spoke through one man.  Jesus.

This is not to say that God couldn't speak personally and audibly to someone if He chose to.  He is the Creator and sustainer of the universe.  But given the pattern set in the Bible, it seems fairly likely that He speaks to people now far less often than many might otherwise suggest.

I've never done the maths before (of how many God actually spoke to in the Bible) but it's pretty interesting - a small but important point to note.

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
Hebrews 1:1,2

Reading through the Prophets

I've spent this year reading through the Prophets in my personal Bible reading time.  It has been fantastic to give them the freshness of summer light and energy rather than crashing into them during the cold and dark winter months and dying, as has happened year after year.  I worked through all of them over four months, with some help along the way from some online sermons, the occasional commentary and a little book called The Minor Prophets by Jack Lewis. 

I'm onto my second run through now, going a bit faster.  It hasn't been an exhaustive study.  My aim was to get some basic facility with them, so that when their names were mentioned the essentials would spring to mind, rather than being met with a black hole.  It has been Bible reading time well spent.  I am hoping to be finished the second run through by the end of June and then plan to do a dash through the whole Bible during the second half of the year.  (That may be being a little optimistic.  I'll let you know how I go.)  I'm liking this plan a lot and am thinking that I will do it again in future years - giving the first few months over to something specific (so maybe next year I will take on just Isaiah with a commentary or Job or...) and then going through the whole Bible after that. 

Here are some things I have noticed about the Prophets, from my first sweep through.

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At one level, they all basically say the same thing.  They're all messages from God through individual prophets to various nations, cities or kings to repent of their current godless practices and to turn and follow Him.  It is often presented, just as God first spoke to the Israelites through Moses in Deuteronomy, in terms of blessing and cursing. 

Sometimes the message is delivered in very black and white terms.  And on first glance it can seem quite harsh.  But while that message is being delivered, God has not drawn down on His sentence.  With abundant mercy, He is throwing out a lifeline.  At other times the words of the Prophets are heavy with God's compassion for His people.  He aches for them to turn back to Him.  It is tender reading.

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.  
Joel 2:13

We know, looking back in a purely historical sense, that God did bring down judgment on His people.  The Northern Kingdom was overtaken by Assyria and the residents of the Southern Kingdom were taken into exile by the Babylonians.  It is grim reading, as these events unfold.  And it is easy to wonder where God is in the lives of the innocent bystanders - in the lives of the humble Israelites who loved God while all those around them were serving false gods,  following their own way and receiving their due punishment.  It doesn't seem to fair to bring down such harsh judgement on the innocent.  But there are small passages here and there throughout the Prophets where God addresses this.  As humans, when the chips are down, we fear for our mortal lives and seek to avoid pain and hardship.  But God's purposes are much higher and are eternal.  There is an especially moving example of this in Isaiah.

The righteous perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart;
devout men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil. 
Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.

Isaiah 57:1,2

The Day of the Lord is a common theme throughout the Prophets.  Interesting to note that some the Prophets talk about this day as one which will be glorious beyond imagining.  They almost turn themselves inside out trying to express the wonder of it all.  But others paint a more sober view, explaining in clear terms that it is a day to be feared.  It is a day which will bring judgment and great distress and for those who have ignored the call to follow God, it will not end well.

Another interesting thing I noted was that there is lots of evidence that God's people will be found amongst the Gentiles as well as the Jews.  Paul certainly draws attention to this in Romans 15.  I did find myself wondering, given the weight of the evidence, why there was so much shock about the place in the very early church when the Gospel made its first push out into the Gentiles.  Maybe they all hadn't read the Prophets.

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In God's good providence I was reading through the Prophets while being swept away with JI Packer's Knowing God.  And this section of the Bible certainly gives you the BIG PICTURE of God in all His holiness, right to judge, power, love and compassion.  I have been both humbled before Him (the fear of the Lord in its fullest sense) and strengthened in His grace, love and mercy.

Not easy.  But good and rich reading.

Jesus, keep me near the cross

I didn't have a chance to get near Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross in the lead up to Easter so I read it after Easter instead.  This book is wonderful in and out of season.  Here's a passage from near the end that taught me something and encouraged me to press on in keeping near the cross of Jesus.

Four of the last seven words [of Jesus on the cross] were from the Old Testament.  Only Jesus' direct  addresses to God on behalf of the soldiers, to the dying thief, and to his mother and beloved disciple were not.  This means that Jesus was filling his mind and strengthening his spirit not by trying to keep a stiff upper lip or look for a silver lining, as we might say, but by an act of deliberately remembering and consciously clinging to the great prophecies and promises of God.  If Jesus did that, don't you think you should do it too?  And not only when you come to die.

You need to fill your head with Scripture and think of your life in terms of the promises of Scripture now.  If you do not do it now, how will you ever find strength to do it when you come to die?  You must live Scripture, committing your spirit into the hands of God day by day if you are to yield your spirit into God's loving hands trustingly at the last.

From "The Heart of the Cross" by James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken (page 100) in Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross edited by Nancy Guthrie.

Teaching kids about God - get them to multitask

Picture by Cathy

A little while ago I came into possession of a document I wrote ten or more years ago called "The Top Twenty Teaching Tips for Children's Church Teachers."  I've just read over it and I'm interested to find that I would probably knock out five, maybe ten, of the tips I listed.  Amazing what a difference a decade will make.  And there is one tip - one that I would put close to the top these day - that isn't mentioned at all in the list.

Get the kids to multitask.

I teach a few Scripture classes each week at our local primary school.  In recent weeks I have had more bad lessons than good.  I take the upper primary classes and in my experience, things start getting difficult with these groups about three weeks before the end of term three - so it was a bit disconcerting when things started going downhill so early on in the year.  It could make for a very long and difficult year.  I decided I had to do something to turn things around.  And quickly.

So I did what I do in Sunday School.  I got them to multitask.

When I teach Sunday School and I need the children to listen for a long time (big story, complicated point to explain, it's a serious lesson and breaking up the talking with a game just won't work) I often bring out a big bowl of popcorn.  Children will listen for as long as you want to talk if they have something to eat.  (You do have to get over the fact that at least one child will eat as if they hadn't been fed for a whole week, but other than that and potential popcorn allergies, this strategy is foolproof.)  Other things that work include playdough or a small pile of Lego bricks with instructions to build a specific thing.

But popcorn, playdough and Lego don't work in a school classroom.  I tried popcorn once.  In small individual bags.  That story is probably best left right there... 

However the principle behind the popcorn still stands.  Something that keeps hands busy and distracts either the mind or the mouth will give the teacher enough time to tell the story/finish a sentence without having to discipline someone/get through five minutes of the lesson with a happy voice and a happy face in order to shift the previously unpleasant mood of the class/______________ (fill in the gap.)

So I went to dear old Google Images and typed in "Detailed Geometric Colouring Pages" and got something like this.

It wasn't this one exactly because every time I google these words I get a completely different set of pictures.  Which is good.  Endless possibilities.

Anyway, I printed one off, photocopied it and went to my lessons.  After a pretty good opening (a couple of rounds of our apple stacking challenge and then the story about how I thought I was going to be killed at the hands of two bikies one evening when I was about 20 and my car broke down in the middle of an intersection at night will hold most children...and yes, it did have something to do with the Scripture lesson I was teaching) it was time to get down to serious business and on cue, they started in on me. 

So I whipped out my pictures, gave the instruction that no two bits were to be coloured in the same colour and kept teaching.  They coloured.  They listened.  They answered questions - without calling out.  And when it was needed, they put their pictures aside to do five minutes of writing in their workbooks.  Because they knew what had happened in the Bible story and they were calm.  The colouring in picture had nothing to do with the lesson at all.  All it did was distract them from the task of winding me up for long enough to get the content of the lesson across.

Twenty years ago (oh my...) when I was a classroom teacher I would read from a novel to my class every day.  Either before lunch or just before the end of school.  And I would make sure they had cleared their desks completely before I started.  There was no fiddling with things, drawing while they were listening, nothing.  I wanted them to do nothing but listen and use their imaginations as I read.  And they did it.  Not because I was a tyrant about it.  They could just do it, with a little bit of training at the beginning of the year.  And that is why mulitasking didn't rate a mention on my Top Twenty List.  It wasn't needed and in my humble opinion, it just didn't help things along.

But I don't know if children would be able to do that now.  Sure, some can.  But not whole classrooms full of children.  Not without lots and lots of training - in concentration and respect.  And the 30 minute Scripture lesson is not the time of the week for that.  So instead, multitasking is a technique that keeps hands and minds out of mischief  and allows for the lesson to proceed.  It won't work every week.  And this won't work week after week.  But, thanks be to God, it worked this week for me.  We had a nice time together and that means that I stand a fair chance of having a good week with them next week as well.

 

Teaching Kids about God

I know there are a few people out there in blogosphere who either teach Sunday School or Scripture lessons so I thought I might start an occasional series offering some tips and tricks and the odd bit of content, that I have stumbled upon and found helpful.  I know I was deeply grateful and encouraged by Simone's blog at Easter time when she posted some children's talk ideas at the eleventh hour.  I was certainly struggling at the eleventh hour before Good Friday this year and was greatly encouraged by her post at that very moment. (Thanks Simone, if you are reading this!)

And I hope that as I share bits and pieces here and there (as I said, I am planning that this will be an occasional series rather than a "post after post" type arrangement) that someone out there, maybe struggling with their teaching, might be encouraged to press on.

What follows right now is a post on getting kids to multitask to get the ball rolling, inspired by a dramatic turn around in my Scripture classes this week.

And I need some help.  Anyone got an idea for a series title that captures the imagination a bit more than "Teaching Kids about God"?   It's alright, but I think we can do better.  And any ideas for a signature photo for this series?

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Update:  Here is the photo that will accompany these posts.  Thank you so much to Cathy.



JI Packer - my new best friend

I was finding it a bit hard to settle into a new book after finishing Knowing God.  I'd been hoping that my copy of 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know, another book by JI Packer, would arrive in time to coincide with coming to the end of Knowing God.  The postpak that should have contained 18 Words arrived in good time, but with the wrong book.  Messages sent back and forth, apology accepted and a new copy in the post to catch that day's mail - and yesterday it arrived in my letterbox.

So after a month of fairly random reading I was straight into the introduction.  Imagine my delight then when I read these opening words:

Keys open doors;  keywords open minds, and through minds hearts.  This book takes keywords from the Bible - terms, we may truly say, from God's own vocabulary - and spells out in a particular way some of the main thoughts linked with them.  The goal is understanding, faith and wisdom.

Deep, contented sigh.  Very happy.

One to One Bible Reading

You may have gathered that I am rather enthusiastic about Bible reading.  I talk about it quite a bit on this blog and as it happens, I talk about it quite a lot in real life too.  And then I get to hear lots of reasons why people don't read the Bible.

I don't have the time.
It's not interesting.
It's too hard.
I'm not a reader.  I don't read anything much.
I've read bits of it but...
It's for Christians.

Hold that thought.

I meet with three small groups of women during the week and together we study the Bible.  Until this year, two groups did Bible studies and the third was a Bible reading group.  I made the third one a Bible reading group because most of its members had small children who tagged along and with  small children rattling around the place, I thought it would be too difficult to attempt a Bible study.  Besides, most of the group didn't have a background in regular Bible reading.  And the phrase "Bible study" sounded too scary.

So the Bible reading group meets for lunch - everyone brings their own - and then after food and chatting we settle down for about an hour of Bible reading.  We pray and then read a chapter of the current book we are working through.  At the end of the chapter I ask the same two questions - 

Did anything stand out?
and
What didn't you get?

Most are usually happy to talk about something that stood out.  Sometimes we tackle something we didn't get.  Lots of the time we just leave the things we didn't get - and that's OK.  It's not that I want to promote a form of laziness in Bible reading.  Trying to nut out the hard stuff is important.  But read on...I'll get back to this.  If there is time, energy and the children are playing well, we do another chapter.  Sometimes we get through three chapters.  Mostly it's one or two.  The discussion eventually finds its way to some points of personal application and then I close with a short prayer.

Last week I picked up One to One Bible Reading by David Helm.  WHAT A GREAT BOOK.  It's all about how to read the Bible with someone else on a regular basis for a mutually fixed amount of time, just as my Bible reading group has been doing for a while. 

In the book he covers:
why reading the Bible with someone else is a good thing,
who you could read the Bible with,
how to get started,
what a typical time together would look like, and
the question of whether or not to prepare before meeting together.

Helm then provides two different frameworks for reading - a simple approach called The Swedish Method which runs a bit along the lines of my two question technique (it adds the third question of personal application up front, whereas I tend to let the application gradually drift out in discussion or through my wrapping up prayer) and a slightly more detailed approach (the COMA method - Context, Observation, Meaning, Application). 

The final part of the book is a resource section with an excellent overview of the different types of books in the Bible and some ways to get into the different genres, including some photocopiable sheets of COMA questions for each of the genres.

One of the things I really love about this book is that it is short and concise.  I read it in an hour.  Now I am thorougly convinced of the benefits of one-to-one Bible reading so what I was reading was all very familiar, but if this idea is new to you and you need some pondering time as you read, I imagine you could still knock it over in a couple of hours.  It gets straight to the point, it's eminently practical and it demonstrates the benefits and joys of tackling some one to one Bible reading.  It is the perfect handbook on this subject.

Feeling worried even so?  Don't think you know your Bible well enough to take this on?

Any committed Christian is capable of initiating a good conversation on a biblical text.  In reality, your fears in this area of personal work betray two Screwtape-like lies that every Christian must resist.  First, that gospel growth depends on us and on our abilities.  This is simply not the case.  Our proficiency in the Bible is not the final arbiter in seeing spiritual growth occur.  The Holy Spirit can and does use timid people just like us.  The second lie we fight against is disbelief - disbelief in the potency of God's Word.  We need to be reminded that God does his work in his way and it is his word that accomplishes whatever he desires in the world.  (Page 24)

Still worried about having a go?  Then go and find someone further along in their Bible reading than you and ask to read with them.  You don't actually have to head the charge here.  The point is to read the Bible with someone.  (By the way, there is a good section addressed to the person "heading the charge" as it were - about resisting the temptation to give a lecture about the passage being read.  Nothing kills one to one Bible reading than one person  dominating the discussion.  I may or may not be guilty of this.)

One of the things I really love about one to one Bible reading is that yes, the Bible is hard in parts - but we need not be scared of it. 

As I said earlier, we often don't tackle the bits we didn't understand with my little lunchtime group .  A recent, glorious example of this was when we read through Joel a few weeks ago.  Three chapters.  I departed from my usual method of one chapter at a time and we read all three chapters at a run.  Then I asked my two usual questions and for once everyone was happy to answer the second question - "What didn't you get?" - and everyone pretty much said they didn't get any of it! 

One brave soul then ventured to say that there were a couple of verses that stood out, that made her heart sing, in the midst of a whole lot of incomprehensible text.  It was a couple of verses about hope.  So we looked at those verses and had a good discussion about hope in Joel and then in ever widening Biblical contexts. 

I wrapped up our discussion by saying that we should all make a mental note of those two verses because in fact they help in part to inform the rest of this book.  The next time we all read Joel (on our own or together) we can do so with those two verses in mind and Joel will be a little more clearer.  And then even clearer the time after...

Because that is what Bible reading is like.  We don't get it all on the first sweep.  And we do get to read it over and over, time and time again.  And each time we will get it a little more than before, as what we understand starts to inform what we don't understand in ever widening circles.

Come back to my lunchtime group.  In the time since we started reading together, all thanks to God, some have put their faith firmly in Jesus and others have started tackling reading the Bible on their own.  They don't understand all of what they are reading, but they are no longer scared to have a go.  They are making it a part of their daily routine and have launched into the lifelong, wondrous pursuit of  Bible reading.  Nutting out the hard stuff (that would be "Bible study") will come later, as a natural progression.

I have seen all the reasons so often given for not reading the Bible dissolve away with this group, all because we have sat down once a week during school term time over two or three years and simply read the Bible together.  And for this reason I made some changes this year.  I now have two Bible reading groups and one study group.

Click here to order a copy of One to One Bible Reading (or here for the eBook version).  It is easy to read and it may just encourage you to get yourself caught up in that beautiful, chaotic web of personal relationships, Bible reading and prayer.  Go for it.  Be encouraged.  It is a rich blessing. 

For the word of God is living and active...

Hebrews 4:12a

Imagine if...

Imagine if all Christians, as a normal part of their discipleship, were caught up in a web of regular Bible reading - not only digging into the Word privately, but reading it with their children before bed, with their spouse over breakfast, with a non-Christian colleague at work once a week over lunch, with a new Christian for follow-up once a fortnight for mutual encouragement, and with a mature Christian friend once a month for mutual encouragement.

It would be a chaotic web of personal relationships, prayer and Bible reading  - more of a movement than a program - but at another level it would be profoundly simple and within reach of all.

It's an exciting thought!

From The Trellis and the Vine (page 57) by Tony Payne and Colin Marshall (Matthias Media) and quoted in One to One Bible Reading (page 12) by David Helm

Knowing God by JI Packer

Put up your hand if you have read Knowing God by JI Packer.

I know lots of people who have started it but haven't make it all the way through.  And many others who didn't ever get started.  Which seems to defy logic given that this book has found its way onto most top ten lists of good reads for Christians.

I've made a start on it several times in the past but didn't ever get very far.   I started it again last October and finished it just last week. 

It's definitely a book that needs to be read slowly.  And savoured.  I read it a chapter here and a chapter there over the six months that it sat on my bedside table.  It's not to be read for the sake of ticking it off the top ten list.  Nor is it good to read if in pride you think you already know it all. If you go into this book just wanting to turn the pages and check off "yes, I know that" on your list of knowledge about God or wanting to check off the book title from your top ten list of books then you probably won't make it.    

Because this is not an especially easy book to read.  JI Packer writes clearly, cleanly and beautifully.  He explains difficult theological concepts with amazing clarity.  And there are a few quips and asides to enjoy along the way.  But Packer writes with such economy of language that you cannot skim over paragraphs or skip over pages.  Every word on every page counts.

But if you find yourself in a space where you really want to know God better - to deepen your personal resources on how to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to be truly amazed by His amazingly gracious and merciful love for you - then this is a rich book.

I especially enjoyed chapters eight (The Majesty of God) and nine (God Only Wise).  And in the final chapter (The Adequacy of God) Packer did a quick sweep over Romans 1 to 7 and then spent several wonderful pages plumbing the depths of Romans 8 - which was glorious.

This book clearly has its place on the top ten lists.  Keep it on your top ten list.  But keep it for a time when you have the time, patience and perserverence to take it slowly. For a time when you are truly hungry to know God better.  And then read it and grow.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you

and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way:

bearing fruit in every good work,

growing in the knowledge of God,

being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might

so that you may have great endurance and patience,

and joyfully giving thanks to the Father,

who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 

Colossians 1:9-12

The problem of unanswered prayer

Sometimes when praying, especially with prayers said repeatedly over the long haul, it can be easy to wonder, "Why isn't God answering this prayer?"

Here's a wonderful quote from Knowing God by JI Packer about looking for the ways in which God may in fact be answering such prayers.

Not, indeed, that our Father in heaven always answers his children's prayers in the form in which we offer them.  Sometimes we ask for the wrong thing!  It is God's prerogative to give good things, things we have need of, and if in our unwisdom we ask for things that do not come under these headings God, like any good parent, reserves the right to say, "No, not that; it wouldn't good for you - but have this instead."  Good parents never simply ignore what their children are saying, nor simply disregard their feelings of need, and neither does God; but often he gives us what we should have asked for, rather than what we actually requested.  Paul asked the Lord Jesus graciously to remove his thorn in the flesh, and the Lord replied by graciously leaving it and strengthening Paul to live with it (2Corinthians 12:7 ff.)  The Lord knew best! - and to suggest that because Paul's prayer was answered this way it was not answered at all would be utterly wrong.  Here is a source of much light on what is sometimes called "the problem of unanswered prayer."

From Knowing God by JI Packer chapter nineteen, page 239. Emphasis mine.