Jesus said, ask, you will get, search , you will find and knock, door will be opened. Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if he ask for bread? Would u give your child a snake, if the child asked for a fish? ( In Mathew Chap 7) These words were spoken by Jesus to assure us that the heavenly father is always keen to answer our prayers with all the good things of heaven. This is the direct message of the above words.
But when I read this passage in Bible, the message that came to my mind was an answer as to why some of our prayers are not heard. Bible says there are many reasons why our prayers are not heard, for example, our own inequities, our sinful nature , selfish greed, our unwillingness to forgive, revenge in our hearts and not the least important, our lack of faith.
Here I would like to discuss none of the above reasons but another realization that I had from the above words of Jesus , something which is hidden or secondary in those words. Primarily, Jesus is trying to reiterate that God is very keen to answer our prayers, more than an earthly parent is willing to give to his/her child. At the same time , this has an answer as to why some of our demands are declined by the loving Father. A very young child hardly knows the difference between fish and snake and would naturally be elongated to catch and play with a snake in the same manner as with a fish. Similarly a hungry child who could hardly discern a bread from stone, would love to take both in same manner. But an amorous and caring parent who understands the danger of playing with a snake or eating the stones, will stalwartly deny these demands even if the child cry out at top of its voice or persistently insist to get them.
It is the same case with many of our prayer requests. We demand many things from God , thinking they are good to us and getting them will be a blessing in our life . Our limited wisdom and lack of farsightedness combined with our inherent and insatiable gluttony, many times prevent us from foreseeing the dangers that may be lurking behind. What we may be thinking as a blessing could be in reality a blight capable of devastating our life. It is my strong conviction that the best and surest way to lead people straight to hell is to grant all his/her wishes, that is allowing him to enter thru the wide gate. It is not a reality that is difficult to find out or limited to the example of one rich man who ignored a Lazarus , we could vouch this from the life of many people around us and amongst us even today. If we look around, we will find that it is the ‘blessing’ of abundance of wealth , boundless power and authority, knowledge and degrees and so called high contacts etc that ultimately led to the ruin and ignominy of many. It is in this backdrop that we need to understand why some of our prayers are sometimes delayed or very often denied altogether.
This delays and denials are not because God does not care for us or doesn’t love us but because He cares for us and does not want to spoil us as He knows well what is good and what is bad for us or may be He is planning something much better for us than what we are asking for or it may not be the right time. As written in Isaiah 55:8&9 The Lord says ‘’ My thoughts and my ways are not like yours . Just as heavens are higher than the earth , my thoughts and my ways are higher than yours’’
This is a true lesson I learnt in my own life, there were situations in my life, I relentlessly and fervently prayed for but did not get an answer. I must confess it was very hard and frustrating at some point of time. But as times passed I realized those denials and delays were truly blessings coz what ultimately I received were many times, many many times, better than what I asked for. I also realized that some of the weaknesses or disabilities could also turn out to be blessings in disguise. If we look back and introspect our life’s journey , each one of us must have many reasons to thank and praise God for the prayers that were denied and delayed along with those which were answered.
Sajan