Waiting on God

How many reading this have prayed and waited for God to answer?  How many have read the promises of God and waited?  How many have been waiting a long time and still haven’t seen God move in their circumstances.

Do you know what I think takes the very most faith?  It’s not believing that God exists.  It’s not believing that Jesus rose from the dead.  I can grasp those things, but what takes the most faith is believing that God will move, and that God will deliver on His promise for you.

Isaiah 40:27-31 (NKJV)
^40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: "My way is hidden from the Lord, And my just claim is passed over by my God"? ²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. ³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, ³¹ But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

God’s Promises

Isaiah is trying to encourage Israel here, because they seem to have lost faith in God’s promises.  They’ve begun to complain about God not answering prayers. 

“My way is hidden from the Lord.”  God doesn’t see my circumstances.

“My just claim is passed over by God.”  God isn’t responding to my cries.

They’re not looking forward with hope.  They’re complaining that God’s hearing but not responding.  They’re impatient – They want to see God move, now!  They’ve forgotten about the things that God has done; the things that they’ve experienced.    They’ve forgotten what God’s character is like.  They’ve forgotten the things they’ve heard from their fathers about how God has moved in the past. 

Have you not seen through your own experience, or heard from teachers and the scriptures, about the attributes of God?  God doesn’t grow weary – God isn’t tired.  He’s not too exhausted to meet the needs of His people.  Instead of complaining, you ought to be inspired by how God moves and the things He does.  This is what Isaiah is reminding them.  He’s telling them whom God is, and what He is capable of doing.

I think that this is the number one way that people lose faith.  They have things that they need – things that they want and so they pray, but they don’t see God move.  They begin to lose faith that God will move on their behalf, so they stop praying, stop hearing the word and stop believing.

Where are you today?  Are you inspired by God’s promises?  Are you seeing God move in your life?  That’s really a very interesting question, because you may answer that you don’t see God moving – That God isn’t doing anything with any purpose in your life – That God isn’t meeting your needs in life, but God is moving in your life.  God is helping you.  God is actively involved in your life, but you think He’s not, because you’re not seeing Him give you that one thing that you desperately want from Him.

He’s moving in every aspect of your life.  He’s providing; He’s working in you; He’s meeting every need that you have but that one thing that you want the most.

Part of the problem is that you see things differently than God.  You always think that what you want is the best thing for you.  You always think that you’re ready for that thing you’re asking.  You always think that what you want is good for you, but God knows what’s best.

God knows if it’s the best thing for you.

God knows if you’re really ready.

God knows if it’s good for you.

You THINK – but God KNOWS!

These are some of the reasons God doesn’t move, but I think that there’s even more to it than that. 

I was thinking about Abraham – At seventy-five years old, God made him a promise.  He took him to a place and showed him a land that one day would belong to his descendants.  The problem was that at seventy-five years of age Abraham was childless – He had no heirs; no descendants.  He must have thought it was odd that God would make this promise.  He was an old man.  His wife was barren.  There it was, though, the promise of descendants.

Genesis 15:2-4 (NKJV)
^15:2 But Abram said, "Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" ³ Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" ⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir."

Abraham believes God but he needs clarity.  He needs God to clarify this:  “I go childless – Are you saying the child of my slave is my heir?”  God tells him that a child will come from his own body – another promise.  Then – NOTHING happens…for twenty-five years, there is no child!

God says I have a promise for you.  I’m going to do something in you and through you.  I’m going to give something over into your hand, but you’re going to have to wait for it!

Can you believe for the child?  Can you believe for the promise?  Even though you see no evidence of it?  That’s the Biblical definition of faith, isn’t it?  Hebrew 11:1 – The substance of things hoped for – It’s faith that makes those hoped for things real.  It’s what brings substance to dreams, hopes, and promises.  Even that definition implies that it’s going to take time:  Things hoped for – Things not seen.  You give up, though, when you’re not seeing it.  “God I’m desperate for your promise”; God says wait! 

God made a promise to Joseph – They’ll bow down to you.  Then Joseph had to wait.  He endured slavery.  He endured false accusation and prison.  Joseph spent thirteen years as a slave and prisoner before the promise came.  Joseph had to wait!

God made a promise to David – David was anointed king when he was fifteen years old.  “You’re anointed the King over Israel – a man after my own heart!”  David became king at age thirty.  David had to wait.

Moses felt a calling to be the deliverer of Israel when he was forty years old.  He rose up, right then, in his own strength to deliver Israel from Egypt and failed.  God called him again at eighty years of age – “You’re going to deliver Israel.”  Moses had to wait!

All of these men had God’s promises on their lives, but they all had to wait.  There’s a promise in your life, as well.  Can you wait for it?

The Affect of Waiting

Why would God make us wait to see His calling and promise?  I felt the calling to full-time ministry after only a few months of salvation.  I had been saved only six months when I knew I wanted to be like my pastor.  I waited nine more years to go.  It was a time of preparation; a time of testing.  The promise was there, but I had to wait.

Abraham endured a period of waiting; twenty-five years.  It was a time of testing, a time of proving faith.  God was looking for a man that would trust Him.  He endured more than just waiting, too.  He endured famines; he endured fear down in Egypt.  This was the biggest pitfall for him.

Waiting isn’t easy.  There’s a desperation for the promise, “God I’m crying out for this – It’s important to me, God!  Why aren’t you responding?”  Abraham waited for the child but none came:

Genesis 16:1-4a (NKJV)
^16:1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. ³ Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. ^4a So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived…"

God had promised that the child would come from his own body.  God had said that it would be him and Sarah that would produce a child – and yet Abraham loses faith in the process of time.  He’s had to wait, so he thinks that he has to help God to produce the child.  He takes the work of God upon himself.  Instead of waiting in faith, he reacts in the flesh and Ishmael is the child of that union.

Genesis 16:12 (NKJV)
^16:12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."

This is not the child of the promise; this is the child of the flesh.  They couldn’t see the possibility of God’s promise.  She was barren.  He was as good as dead.  They couldn’t see how God’s promise could happen. 

His impatience has corrupted the promise of God.  His lack of faith has caused this to go wrong.  Instead of producing a child through whom the world would be blessed, he has brought forth a man that would be against all men.

Can you wait for the possibility of God’s promise?  Are you in too much of a hurry?  Do you feel like you have to push the promise through?  Waiting is a time of testing.  God wants your trust.

I’ve seen so many people destroy what God is trying to do by taking God’s work and God’s promises into their own hands and corrupting the promise of God through the desires of the flesh.  Are you producing an Ishmael in your own life, because you’re looking at the promises of God through the filter of your own circumstances? 

“I don’t see any possibility for an almighty God to move, so I need to step in and help!”

In the end for the promise of God to flourish, Ishmael had to be cast out into the wilderness.  The flesh had to be thrown down so the promise could arise.

In our text it says:

“Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.”

This is talking about those who cannot wait on God:  The ones who will try to bring it about in their own strength.  They will faint and grow weary – the boundless energy of youth will fail them because the work of God will overwhelm them!  The creation of the heavens is the work of God’s fingers.  What God does with His fingers is impossible for any man in all of his strength.  We don’t have the strength for God’s work.  We don’t have the power to make His promise come true.

Those Who Wait

If you’re trying to bring about God’s promises in your own strength, you will grow weary.  The young men will utterly fall.  These are the men who are appointed; they are called to a purpose, but they will be utterly destroyed in trying to do it on their own – But those who wait…

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)
^40:31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Those that wait will have new strength – their strength will be renewed; made new.  They will mount up with wings like Eagles.  What does that mean?

As an Eagle ages, there is damage to his feathers.  Many of them have fallen out; the power of the wings has diminished.  The eagle flies to a high rock and pulls the remaining feathers out of his wings.  He needs to stop and rest; take the time to allow the feathers to grow in.  He’s unable to hunt. He has to endure that time of waiting.  He can do nothing as he waits for the feathers to grow in.  He is utterly vulnerable.

As the feathers grow in and fill in the spaces where they were missing, his power to fly is renewed, but first, he has to survive that time of waiting.

God’s promises will strengthen us, but we also have to endure and survive the time of waiting.  This is the time when we are vulnerable to the devil’s strategy.  Can you allow your wings to “mount up”?  Can you endure the time it takes to see the promise?  What if you only see the beginning of the promise like Abraham did? 

Hebrews 11:13 (NKJV)
^11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

These all died in faith:  The scripture is talking about Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah.  Abraham didn’t see his descendants numbered like sand on the seashore.  He never saw them possess the Promised Land.  It took six hundred eighty-five years from the time of the promise until they stepped across the Jordan and into that promise.

Abraham didn’t live to see that, but he saw Isaac, the child of promise.  He saw Jacob, his grandson.  He saw the promise of God begin to take shape and grow. 

Waiting on God isn’t just waiting:  God’s testing; God’s teaching; God’s loving and He’s giving us the opportunity to see His faithfulness.  He’s building faith and trust into us.  So that we can mount up as on Eagle’s wings; So that we can walk with him and not grow weary; So that we can run and not faint.  Are you one of those who can wait on God?

Overcoming Weariness

One of the major problems that people suffer these days is depression and weariness. This becomes a real problem when it overflows into the church. I think depressed Christians are one of the saddest things there are, after all, Christianity is supposed to fill us with Joy. Why do some people have joy in the church while others struggle with weariness, depression and oppression?


I want to examine that question from the Word of God. The Bible often gives us insight into our feelings and emotions. People are sitting in pews all over the world today and they’re wondering why they aren’t experiencing the promises of God. They’re wondering why they’re experiencing depression and weariness. They’re looking at the changes that have taken place in their lives and they’re thinking to themselves, “Is this all there is?”

“Is this is what’s meant by the Joy of Salvation, because I’m not feeling particularly joyful.”

Today, I want to show you from the word of God, how we can overcome depression and weariness in our lives.

Galatians 6:2-10
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.5 For each one shall bear his own load. 6 Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

The Weariness of Bondage and Oppression

If you have been a Christian for any amount of time then you have come to the understanding that the Christian life is supposed to be a blessing, after all, there is the promise of joy:

1 Peter 1:7-8
7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

Peter is telling us, here, that with genuine faith comes inexpressible joy. But you might be saying to yourself, “Where is that promise in my life? I’m not feeling joyful; in fact, I’m feeling just the opposite. If that’s a promise then I should be experiencing it, but I’m not.”

If we look carefully at the promises of God we will see that they’re all conditional. If we meet with certain conditions then God will reciprocate with the fulfillment of His promises. We see an example of this in 2 Chronicles Chapter seven.

2 Chronicles 7:14
14 “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

IF we will humble ourselves, pray and seek His face AND turn away from our sin, THEN he will forgive our sin and heal our land. This is a conditional promise, there is a condition that must be met before the promise is fulfilled.

This is something we do with our children all the time, isn’t it? We tell them IF you will do your chores, without complaining, without me having to remind you, with or me having to get loud to get you to do it. THEN you will receive some reward, usually an allowance or something. Then it is up to them to do what’s necessary to receive the reward. This is what God does with us. There are no unconditional promises in the Bible. All of the promises of God come with something we must do before they are fulfilled.

IF we will sow, THEN we will reap. Any farmer understands this. If you plant seed then you will reap a harvest. If you don’t plant seed then you won’t reap a harvest. The condition of reaping the harvest is planting the seed.

Blessing comes from right giving:

Malachi 3:10
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

IF we don’t tithe then we won’t know if God will pour out the blessing. Tithing is the condition to receiving the blessing.

If we believe in Jesus we will receive everlasting life:

John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Whoever believes in Him will receive everlasting life. Whoever doesn’t believe in Him will perish. Believing in Him is the condition; everlasting life is the promise. If you want to receive the promises of God then it is critical that you live out the conditions to receiving the promises. If we refuse to live according to the will of God how can we expect to receive the blessing?

We all want the promise of Heaven, am I right? None of us wants to go to Hell. Well, there’s a condition to receiving that promise:

Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

So the condition to receiving the promise of heaven is that we must do the will of the father.

The problem for many Christians today is that they’re tired and their worn out because they are still living in the same sin that they were involved in before they got saved. How many know that depression and weariness is brought on by guilt and shame. You know you’re not living right and so you’re depressed. Weariness comes from not doing the will of God.

Weariness comes from not living the will of God for our lives. Jesus is a filter in our lives, at least, He should be. The things that don’t belong in our lives should be strained out through that filter.

“I’m living for Jesus, so I shouldn’t be drunk.”
“I’m living for Jesus so I shouldn’t be fornicating.”
“I’m living for Jesus so I shouldn’t be lying, stealing, committing adultery, gossiping…”

Whatever thing I’m doing that is destroying my relationship with Jesus, I shouldn’t be doing. Have you ever heard this? I’m sick and tired of my lifestyle. I’m tired of partying. I’m tired of waking up sick every morning. I’m tired of feeling empty, unfulfilled, stressed out, used, broken. We’ve all heard that. As a matter of fact, some of us have actually said that.

But have you ever heard this? I’m tired of being blessed. I’m tired of being free of guilt and shame. I’m tired of receiving the promises of God. I’m tired of being joyful. You’ve probably never heard anyone say that.

It’s sin that wears us out and bums us out. It’s sin that destroys relationships and causes pain and hurt. If we will step out of sin then we step out of weariness. Sin is a bondage. It’s oppression in our lives.

John 8:34
34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

Slavery is oppression; it’s a burden that we carry. Have you ever gone backpacking? What would be a simple casual walk becomes a difficult and exhausting trek with the added burden of a seventy-pound backpack. The oppression of slavery will cause us to groan under the weight.

Exodus 2:23-24
23 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

They’re groaning under the weight of oppression and we, when in sin, also groan under the weight of that oppression. Sin causes weariness. People are sitting in churches weary and depressed because these things are working in their lives.

Overcoming Weariness

The question is, how can we overcome weariness? How can we throw off the shackles of depression? The first way is through conditioning.

A friend of mine races hand-powered bikes. The type of races he is involved in is the endurance race. These are not high-speed sprints, they’re races over time to test your physical strength and endurance. And so in order to be competitive he must work out regularly to make himself strong enough not to be overcome with weariness before the race is over.

Paul tells us we are engaged in an endurance race as well:

Hebrews 12:1
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

The one who endures until the end will be saved. In order to endure we must prepare ourselves by making ourselves strong enough to go the distance. An athlete calls this conditioning: We must condition ourselves for the race that’s before us.

This is what my friend is doing through exercise. He is conditioning himself so that he will have the endurance to complete the race. But the race that we’re in isn’t a bicycle race or a running race. It isn’t a physical test of our endurance at all. We are engaged in a spiritual race, so we must condition ourselves spiritually to to complete the race. Physical race: Physical conditioning…Spiritual race: Spiritual conditioning. It would be much easier if we could just lift some weights; run some laps; do a few pushups to get ready for the race. But, what we need is spiritual conditioning. We need to condition our heart to overcome the weariness that comes upon us. I believe there are three things that will condition to endure over the long run.

The first thing is prayer, particularly prayer before church. Prayer is what prepares us to hear from God, and hearing from God will energize you. have you ever walked away from service thinking, "God really spoke to me today, that was something I needed to hear?"

Prayer opens our hearts; it unburdens us from the day’s events. You can lay all the problems of life on God, “Here God, this is what happened this is how awful it was…” Then you can call on Him to speak to you. “God speak to me, give me direction…Help me God.” What was that promise? If we will pray and seek his face, then forgiveness will come and with forgiveness comes the unburdening of ourselves from sin. That weight of oppression will come off.

The second thing is to attend church with an air of expectation. Know that God will move. That’s an expression of faith. If you have an expectation of a powerful interaction with God, you’ll be excited about coming to church. It won’t be boring, who knows what God will do? If you are expecting God to do something powerful, or that he will speak something into your life, if you just know something is going to happen you will be excited. Excitement energizes.

The third thing is to be involved in the things of God. One thing that I have noticed is true in my life, is that when I lay around and do nothing I often wind up more tired than I was when I decided to take it easy. When I’m busily doing things, and have a feeling of accomplishing something I’m buoyed up, I’m excited and energized. When I take it upon myself to get up and go witness to strangers, or preach the Gospel in public or just get involved I feel better. I might be physically tired, but that bone weariness that comes from depression isn’t there.

So if we pray and open ourselves up to hearing from God: If we will attend church with an expectation of an encounter with an all-powerful God: If we will be involved with what God is doing, we will be conditioned and will be able to overcome depression and weariness. This is what will give us the strength to endure until the race is finished. We will be able to run the race with en durance.

Road to Redemption

So if we want to receive the promises of God we need to understand the conditions and what it will take to be able to receive them. Then we need to condition ourselves to make ourselves strong enough to endure the conditions of the promise. Finally, we need to create an atmosphere where God can move in our lives.

The problem is that sometimes we create conditions in our lives that hinder the movement of God. Sometimes, we are involved in sin; we’re unable to break free. It should be obvious that if we are still involved in sin that God can’t move there. Other times the problem is that we come to church with an atmosphere that must be overcome, before we can create an atmosphere where God can move.

We may get in argument with our spouse or someone in the church and we come in and bring that air of hostility with us. “I’m not talking to anyone, they’re all against me.” Or “I’m not talking with my husband, so I’ll just ignore him and tell the girls what a rotten husband he is.”

God has to overcome our attitude in order to do something in our lives. We haven’t created an atmosphere were God can move. Instead, we have hindered His movement. It is up to us to create an atmosphere where God can move to do something in us or through us. Our text shows us three factors in the creation of that atmosphere.

The first is “bearing the burdens of others.” Making ourselves available to bear the burden of another person. One of the major symptoms of depression is weariness. You want to sleep all the time. Sleep is an escape from hurt and sorrow. We don’t feel those things when we’re sleeping. But psychologists will tell us that the best way to overcome depression is to do something for someone else. If we are willing to bear the burdens of someone else in the church we will lose the weariness that we feel. That doesn’t mean that we should take all their problems and make them our problems. It’s not saying that we need to solve all of their problems ourselves. But we can help them with what they’re struggling by praying for them and with them. Or maybe by just being available to listen to their hurts or encourage them. Do you realize that a church is like a family, intentionally, so that we will care about each other and help each other.

The second thing is to “share all good things with him who teaches.” Do you realize that you can encourage your pastor by sharing with him the things that God is doing in your life? Your pastor really wants to see God moving in your life. People have a tendency to go to their pastor only with the problems and headaches. Maybe it’s not the pastor but the person who helped you or prayed with you. Maybe they had a scripture that they gave you to read. You can say, “Wow, that scripture really helped me…or that thing you said really helped me get through a tough time.” You can really encourage and bless that person by just telling them they helped.

The third is, “do good to all of the household of faith.” Do you know that it’s okay to bless other people in your church? Really, it’s okay; you can do something nice for someone else in the church.

I always marvel at my pastor’s wife and her energy level. She’s constantly doing things and never seems tired. If you asked her she would say, “God helps us.” That’s true, but one of the reasons, I believe she’s never tired is because she’s like this. She is always doing something for someone else. I remember when some young people got married a number of years ago. She organized a group to go and paint the house they were going to move into. This is not unusual. She’s always like that.

Do not grow weary in well doing for what you sow that you will reap. The promises are there for us. God has given us promises that he will deliver. God is faithful. But all too often we become weary and depressed, we become too weary to endure. But we can condition ourselves to endure and we can help each other to make it through.

When we help bear someone else’s burden we make our own load lighter. When we share in all good things to him who teaches, we encourage ourselves in the bargain. When we expend the energy to bless someone else, we are given more energy. We don’t have to lose heart. We can finish the race and endure until the end.

Three Portraits of Promise

The Bible is full of promises: The promise of everlasting life: The promise of the Kingdom of Heaven: The promise of Salvation, and many others. But there is one promise that holds great fascination for us as Christians. This is the one that we really want to believe: The promise of asking and receiving.

God has promised that what we ask for we will receive. So why does it sometimes seem that we ask and God doesn’t hear our prayer? There is no response, at all! Have you ever experienced that?

You pray something like, “God please save my friend. Bring him to You; to a place of salvation so that he can put away his sin and begin to serve you.” But year after year he continues to be an unrepentant sinner. Or, you pray for a financial breakthrough and yet you still continue to struggle financially. Or, you ask God to restore something that has been lost and it seems like that thing is gone forever.

Where is the promise? Where is the answer to prayer? “What’s up God, I have faith, I’m praying, I’m living for Jesus, but I’m not seeing the things I’m praying for.” We all feel like that sometimes and it leads to a type of spiritual confusion. Jesus gives us a view of how God looks at prayer and I want to share that with you today.

Matthew 7:7-8
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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

So there it is! That’s the promise: Ask and it will be given to you.

John 14:13-14
13 “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.14 “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Whatever you ask will be given to you; whatever you ask in My name I will do it. These are pretty powerful promises. Jesus says that if we ask anything in His name he will give it to us. But then, why doesn’t it always seem like that? We read this an we’re encouraged to ask, “God give me the desires of my heart.” But sometimes it seems like God isn’t even listening, much less answering that prayer and we think, “Maybe God is angry at me, that’s why he isn’t hearing me.” But it isn’t like that. Or we think God is unkind, He’s aloof, and He’s not interested in my needs. But that isn’t true. Jesus uses three parables to instruct us in the way God views our prayer and His desire toward us. Let’s look at those parables.

In the first parable, Jesus paints a picture for us of a God who seems uninterested in our needs.

The Parable of the Persistent Friend

Luke 11:5-8
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;6 ‘for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;7 “and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’?8 “I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

In this parable, God is portrayed as the friend. He is the one we come to with our need, “Friend, give me three loaves.” But we’re confused by His reaction. There is urgency to our need; we see that because we are asking at midnight. It must be an emergency. Have you ever gone to neighbor at midnight and asked to borrow a cup of sugar? No, you would only go and wake up the neighbor at that time if there was an urgent need. So this man comes to his friend in urgent need. The friend seeing that need tells him, “I can’t do it now.”

What is this parable saying? Is it saying that God is unconcerned about our needs? Is it saying that God doesn’t want to be bothered with our petty little problems? We read this parable and we see God as a God that says, “Don’t bug Me.” This is what confuses us, how can God on the one hand say, “Ask and you shall receive,” and on the other hand say, “Don’t bug Me!” The answer is found in the very next verse.

Luke 11:8
8 “I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

That word persistence means to request with urgency. So this parable is saying that the friend didn’t respond to the simple request, but did respond to the urgency of the need. What it is saying is that the man continued to knock; he became troublesome. “You don’t understand this is urgent. I must have something for this traveler.” Because of that urgency the friend got up and gave him all that he needed.

God is like that. He isn’t a spiritual gumball machine; where you put in a quarter and turn the prayer crank and God spits out a gumball blessing. But God will repond to the urgency of the need. Everyday I pray for people to come into the church. I pray that God will bring those who need salvation, those who will respond to the call of God, those with a desire to hear and live out the word and will of God; and the church has grown, God brings people almost every service. The church is growing.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

God brings the increase…God answers prayer.

The Parable of the Unjust Judge

Luke 18:1-5
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.3 “Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’4 “And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man,5 ‘yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ”

In this parable we see the Judge, and this widow comes to him and asks him to avenge her of her adversary. Some enemy is tormenting her. That woman is a picture of us. An adversary torments us; someone who seeks to destroy us; to destroy what God is doing in us. That adversary’s name is Satan. Satan literally means adversary or enemy.

So this woman brings her complaint to the judge and he refuses her.

“Will you avenge me of my enemy, today?” “No!” “Fine.”
“Will you avenge me of my enemy, today?” “No!” “Fine.”
“Will you avenge me of my enemy, today?” “No!” “Fine.”

Finally he says, “I will avenge this woman, just to get her off my back.”

What is interesting about this parable is that Jesus assumes that we’re praying. Because God’s people are a praying people, Jesus assumes that we pray. His intent with this parable is not that we pray, but that we remain steadfast in our prayer; that we contend in prayer for relief.

Luke 18:6-8
6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.7 “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?8 “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

This is an unjust judge and even he responds to this widow. How will God, who is a righteous judge, respond when we cry out and contend for relief. God doesn’t want us to be tormented. Look what Jesus says to Peter, when Satan comes against him.

Luke 22:31-32
31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.32 “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

Jesus prayed for him that his faith not fail. Now look at the last verse of the text and look at the interesting question it asks, “When the Son of Man returns will He really find faith on the earth?” Faith is the key: Faith in the sense that we can trust God; but also faith in the sense of being faithful. He is looking for us to steadfast, reliable, loyal…

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

…that we continue even in the evidence that isn’t seen. Will He find faith in you?

These are the keys to seeing prayer answered: Praying with a sense of urgency; in urgent, persistent need and praying in faith; remaining until you see the promise answered; faithful, steadfast contending in prayer. That’s when you’ll see God pour out his blessing.

The Parable of the Good Father

Finally, the third thing I want to show you is that God desires to bless us. He wants to meet our needs, “Ask and you shall receive: Whatever you ask, in my name, I will do it.” This is what leads us into confusion. That God has said I want to bless you but we don’t immediately see a response to the prayer. But God does want to bless.

Luke 11:9-13
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.10 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.11 “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?12 “Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

There is a picture of God here. It is in the picture of the father who wants to give good things to his children when they ask. What this is saying is that human fathers are sinful, just like everyone else. They can have evil lurking inside. Let’s face facts we are all sinners. We have all fallen short of the Glory of God. But even in that state we want to meet the needs of our children. We still want to give good things to our children. How much more, God, who is righteous?

God has adopted us.

Romans 8:15
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

God, who has made us co-heirs with his son, how much does He desire to meet our needs?

That word “abba” expresses warm affection, a sense of intimacy. It is like the word “Daddy.” That’s the relationship that’s portrayed, a sense of confidence in the love of the father. That confidence is there because we know that he is there for us. My children never have to question whether or not I love them. They can see it in the things I do for them; going to work, sheltering them, providing for their needs. God does all this and much, mush more. He even sent his only begotten son to suffer and die for us, to redeem us from our sin and win us back to a relationship with Him.

God is our Heavenly Father, that name alone denotes the relationship. Sometimes our earthly fathers will let us down, even walk away from us, but our Heavenly Father desires to pour blessing into our lives.

Sometimes, though, we don’t see the blessing until we look back, from the place of blessing. Even though, it may not be what we had in mind when we prayed, maybe it didn’t fit the picture of what we wanted; we can look back and see that God had the best thing in mind for us. The blessing is there. God is a God who desires to bless like a father who loves his children. God is like that.