The Prayer God Answers

I was browsing Amazon.com some time back and landed on C.S. Lewis’ book page, “Mere Christianity.” As you all know, that’s one of the most read books in the 20th century, and naturally, you see nothing but raving five-star reviews. I wondered if there were any one-star reviews and what they had to say.

There is no perfection in this fallen world. Even if you created a masterpiece, you would still find some naysayers who try to pick bones inside an egg. Then, I found a negative review that drew my attention. It was short, “Christianity is a myth, and there’s no God.”

Out of curiosity, I commented on his review, saying, “You made a strong statement without support. Would you care to elaborate on how you got to that conclusion?”

He said he grew up in church, went through Sunday School, and learned the scripture says, “Ask, and it will be given to you.”  However, he had asked many times but was never given, so he stopped believing in Christianity because this verse is a piece of solid evidence that Christianity is false.

I said you shouldn’t take this verse out of context. He said, “Don’t give me that crap! I have heard it all. You Christians always try to defend the Bible with all kinds of excuses. This verse is black and white, the language is not vague, and the meaning is not debatable! It says plainly, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you.’ Since it’s proven untrue, Christianity is a sham.”

After further discussion, I discovered he was angry at God because his father passed away when he was only 12 years old. His father had cancer, and he asked God to heal him, but his prayer was not fulfilled the way he wished. So, ever since his father died, he had abandoned God.

He left me speechless. I felt for him since his request was reasonable. He wasn’t asking God to let him win a lottery or make him rich. He simply wanted to grow up with his father. It was difficult for a 12-year-old to reconcile such tragedy with a Bible verse taken out of context. I hope he eventually reconciled with God.

I wished God miraculously answered his prayer and kept his faith. I also wish all my prayers get answered unconditionally. However, God is not a genie. Some people think prayers are like rubbing Aladin’s Lamp and expect God to come out like the genie, saying, “Your wish is my command.”

The truth is that God has bigger fish to fry. However, Jesus did make a bold promise to answer our prayers. He says,

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10).

He says, “everyone who asks receives.” That’s a bold promise, but we know every promise comes with a premise, and every text has a context. If we study the context and understand the premise, we crack the code to the kind of prayer God answers, and we will never get stuck wondering why our prayer is not answered and get disappointed, discouraged, and lose faith.

Today, we will put the text in the context, the promise in the premise to discover the kind of prayer God answers based on what Jesus taught us in this week’s scripture lesson. So, let’s begin!