Have you ever experienced backbreaking prayer? I was recently talking with a friend about prayer concerns and we were discussing a concern that we had been praying for over the course of several months. Every time we met to discuss prayers, this concern came up. Although constant in our prayers, we were seeing no result, and praying for this request was becoming more like hauling a back breaking load up a mountain than anything else. It wasn't the first time I've had prayer that felt like work.
Sometimes backbreaking prayer needs are sudden and immediate. A parent or spouse that is seriously injured in a car wreck will lead to backbreaking prayer. Sometimes back breaking prayer is just long and drawn out, a prayer for something we know we should be praying for and are faithful in praying for, but we seem to never get an answer, not even a "just wait, I hear your prayer".
The question I wanted answered was how to deal with whatever answer we might get, particularly when we felt we weren't getting any answer at all, so I turned to the Bible.
The Bible is filled with examples of prayer. From the formalized prayer of the Psalms to the immediate "HELP" prayers scattered throughout, there are an abundance of prayers, but there are two prayers that seemed to fit exactly what I wanted to understand. Not only are they a model for prayer, but also for how to deal with the answers we sometimes get.
The first example is Jesus. When Judas betrayed Him, Jesus had just finished praying. He had taken all of the disciples to Gethsemane, then He withdrew with Peter, James and John and finally He withdrew from even them for some prayer time (Matt. 26:36-39). As is so often the case with Jesus, He gives us a model for how we should act in a time of back breaking prayer. Jesus knew what faced Him that night. He knew that He would die as a sacrifice for our sins. Fully God and fully human, He was at a time of making a decision. Had He wanted to, Jesus could have saved Himself. We know, from His prayers, that He wanted to avoid what was to come:
"My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want." Matt. 26:39b
According to Luke, while praying in Gethsemane, Jesus sweated blood while He prayed (Luke 22:44). He repeated His prayer three times, each time ending with the comment, "not what I want but what you want." Like an obedient Son, Jesus acknowledged the need for obedience, even if it means going through a time that is difficult. Jesus did indeed do as God had willed. He was crucified, dead and buried. In following God's will, Jesus broke death's bondage and rose again to life everlasting, a permanent sacrifice for our sins. Even though God's answer to His prayer was not what He wanted, God's answer to His prayer was greater than what was obvious.
Of course, you might say, Jesus as the Son of God would find it easier to accept No as an answer, but I'm only human. So was David. I urge you to read 2 Samuel 11:1-12:23, but we're going to focus on the last part of that story. In short, David sees Bathsheba, becomes covetous of her, has an affair with her and she gets pregnant. Her husband, Uriah, was a soldier out fighting. David brings him back, but Uriah won't sleep with his wife because he feels it isn't fair to the other soldiers (2 Sam. 11:11), so David plots to have him killed.
Following the death of her husband, Bathsheba mourns and then marries David, providing him with a son. The prophet Nathan calls David to task and David confesses his sin. Nathan further tells David the consequence of his sin:
Nathan said to David, "Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die." 2 Samuel 12:13b,14 The Lord carried out His promise, and David's response was some serious, backbreaking prayer.
Then Nathan went to his house. The Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became very ill. David therefore pleaded with God for the child; David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. The elders of his house stood beside him, urging him to rise from the ground; but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 2 Samuel 12:15-17 David prayed, pleading with God for his child's life. Did David do this for a few minutes? A few hours? No, but for 7 days. The only reason he stopped was because his son died. His servants didn't want to break the news to him. They were afraid David would hurt himself, so agonized was he over the child's sickness.
David sees them whispering off in a corner and knows what has happened, knows his son must be dead. When the servants acknowledged this, does David rail against God, complaining life is unfair? Does he lash out in anger at the servants who brought him this news? Judge for yourself. But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, he perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" They said, "He is dead." Then David rose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He went into the house of the Lord, and worshipped; he then went to his own house; and when he asked, they set food before him and he ate. 2 Samuel 12:19-20 That doesn't seem to make much sense. He spends 7 days pleading for his son's life and, now that the child is dead, he eats? Why would he do that? Well, his servants asked the same question.
Then his servants said to him, "What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive; but when the child died, you rose and ate food." He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, "Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.' But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." 2 Samuel 12:21-23
David's prayer was answered, not the way he wanted it to be, but it was answered. As long as his prayer remained unanswered, David prayed with all of his heart and soul. Once his prayer was answered, he not only accepted the fact, but he worshipped God because David trusted that God knew more than he did and would had faith that God would meet David's needs. In the 51st Psalm, attributed to being David's response to Nathan's calling him out over his sin, David says:
Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. Psalm 51:4 (emphasis added)
David knew he had sinned and God had every right to take punish him for sinning. David accepted it. God's answer to David's prayer was no, and it was a definite answer. David's son, for whom he had pleaded, was dead.
With his prayer answered, David worshipped God. I'm sure he was familiar with Proverbs 19:21:
The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.
David knew that he worshipped no fickle god whose mind changed with the blowing of the wind but the God of all creation who had a plan for bringing us back into communion with Himself. Indeed, Jesus is a descendant of David. So I've made up my mind that, when faced with back breaking prayer, I will pray earnestly, acknowledging God's sovereignty in answering the prayer. Should the answer to my prayer be No, then I will proceed with the faith that when I look back upon this time in my life I will find that God has richly blessed me beyond what it was I was praying for because He has a bigger plan for my life than what I can see.
Have you ever experienced backbreaking prayer? I was recently talking with a friend about prayer concerns and we were discussing a concern that we had been praying for over the course of several months. Every time we met to discuss prayers, this concern came up. Although constant in our prayers, we were seeing no result, and praying for this request was becoming more like hauling a back breaking load up a mountain than anything else. It wasn't the first time I've had prayer that felt like work.
Sometimes backbreaking prayer needs are sudden and immediate. A parent or spouse that is seriously injured in a car wreck will lead to backbreaking prayer. Sometimes back breaking prayer is just long and drawn out, a prayer for something we know we should be praying for and are faithful in praying for, but we seem to never get an answer, not even a "just wait, I hear your prayer".
The question I wanted answered was how to deal with whatever answer we might get, particularly when we felt we weren't getting any answer at all, so I turned to the Bible.
The Bible is filled with examples of prayer. From the formalized prayer of the Psalms to the immediate "HELP" prayers scattered throughout, there are an abundance of prayers, but there are two prayers that seemed to fit exactly what I wanted to understand. Not only are they a model for prayer, but also for how to deal with the answers we sometimes get.
The first example is Jesus. When Judas betrayed Him, Jesus had just finished praying. He had taken all of the disciples to Gethsemane, then He withdrew with Peter, James and John and finally He withdrew from even them for some prayer time (Matt. 26:36-39). As is so often the case with Jesus, He gives us a model for how we should act in a time of back breaking prayer. Jesus knew what faced Him that night. He knew that He would die as a sacrifice for our sins. Fully God and fully human, He was at a time of making a decision. Had He wanted to, Jesus could have saved Himself. We know, from His prayers, that He wanted to avoid what was to come:
"My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want." Matt. 26:39b
According to Luke, while praying in Gethsemane, Jesus sweated blood while He prayed (Luke 22:44). He repeated His prayer three times, each time ending with the comment, "not what I want but what you want." Like an obedient Son, Jesus acknowledged the need for obedience, even if it means going through a time that is difficult. Jesus did indeed do as God had willed. He was crucified, dead and buried. In following God's will, Jesus broke death's bondage and rose again to life everlasting, a permanent sacrifice for our sins. Even though God's answer to His prayer was not what He wanted, God's answer to His prayer was greater than what was obvious.
Of course, you might say, Jesus as the Son of God would find it easier to accept No as an answer, but I'm only human. So was David. I urge you to read 2 Samuel 11:1-12:23, but we're going to focus on the last part of that story. In short, David sees Bathsheba, becomes covetous of her, has an affair with her and she gets pregnant. Her husband, Uriah, was a soldier out fighting. David brings him back, but Uriah won't sleep with his wife because he feels it isn't fair to the other soldiers (2 Sam. 11:11), so David plots to have him killed.
Following the death of her husband, Bathsheba mourns and then marries David, providing him with a son. The prophet Nathan calls David to task and David confesses his sin. Nathan further tells David the consequence of his sin:
Nathan said to David, "Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die." 2 Samuel 12:13b,14 The Lord carried out His promise, and David's response was some serious, backbreaking prayer.
Then Nathan went to his house. The Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became very ill. David therefore pleaded with God for the child; David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. The elders of his house stood beside him, urging him to rise from the ground; but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 2 Samuel 12:15-17 David prayed, pleading with God for his child's life. Did David do this for a few minutes? A few hours? No, but for 7 days. The only reason he stopped was because his son died. His servants didn't want to break the news to him. They were afraid David would hurt himself, so agonized was he over the child's sickness.
David sees them whispering off in a corner and knows what has happened, knows his son must be dead. When the servants acknowledged this, does David rail against God, complaining life is unfair? Does he lash out in anger at the servants who brought him this news? Judge for yourself. But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, he perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" They said, "He is dead." Then David rose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He went into the house of the Lord, and worshipped; he then went to his own house; and when he asked, they set food before him and he ate. 2 Samuel 12:19-20 That doesn't seem to make much sense. He spends 7 days pleading for his son's life and, now that the child is dead, he eats? Why would he do that? Well, his servants asked the same question.
Then his servants said to him, "What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive; but when the child died, you rose and ate food." He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, "Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.' But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." 2 Samuel 12:21-23
David's prayer was answered, not the way he wanted it to be, but it was answered. As long as his prayer remained unanswered, David prayed with all of his heart and soul. Once his prayer was answered, he not only accepted the fact, but he worshipped God because David trusted that God knew more than he did and would had faith that God would meet David's needs. In the 51st Psalm, attributed to being David's response to Nathan's calling him out over his sin, David says:
Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. Psalm 51:4 (emphasis added)
David knew he had sinned and God had every right to take punish him for sinning. David accepted it. God's answer to David's prayer was no, and it was a definite answer. David's son, for whom he had pleaded, was dead.
With his prayer answered, David worshipped God. I'm sure he was familiar with Proverbs 19:21:
The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.
David knew that he worshipped no fickle god whose mind changed with the blowing of the wind but the God of all creation who had a plan for bringing us back into communion with Himself. Indeed, Jesus is a descendant of David. So I've made up my mind that, when faced with back breaking prayer, I will pray earnestly, acknowledging God's sovereignty in answering the prayer. Should the answer to my prayer be No, then I will proceed with the faith that when I look back upon this time in my life I will find that God has richly blessed me beyond what it was I was praying for because He has a bigger plan for my life than what I can see.