If you could ask the God of the universe for something and you knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would hear your request and answer, what would you ask God for?
A Broken Swing and Broken Promises
A few months ago, when the pandemic started and we were asked to shelter in place, our family, like so many of you, found ourselves spending a lot more time at home.
My girls decided that they really wanted a swing for the back yard. So one day I had a thought. I had a little wood in the garage. And I had some rope. I bet I can put together a simple swing. So I grabbed a piece of cedar that was about the right size, I took some rope, and made them a swing. We climbed up in the tree in our back yard and tied the rope to a sturdy limb, and I felt like the dad of the year!
The only problem was that the wood I used for the seat was about 12 inches wide. It was really too big, especially for Emma, to sit on, keep her balance, and swing. As you might expect, she was disappointed. So I thought I would cheer her up.
That night, after dinner, I called her outside. I said, let me sit on the swing, you sit on my lap, and we’ll swing together.
We did. She was laughing and we were having a good time when, all of a sudden, the swing broke and we both hit the ground!
The wood I had used for the seat broke in half! I guess I didn’t think about this swing having a weight limit!
For many of us, this is our problem when it comes to prayer. The reason we don’t pray, or don’t pray often, or haven’t prayed in a long time is because we feel like we’ve been the recipient of broken promises.
We prayed believing God would hear. We prayed believing God would answer. We prayed and we prayed and then one day it felt like we hit the ground.
Now, we’re not only disappointed with how things are going in our lives, we’re disappointed in God.
Where are you God?
Right now, you may be asking the question, Where are you God?
In the middle of seismic shifts happening in our world… Things like a global pandemic. Things like racial injustice. Things like world wide economic decline.
We might be praying, How long, O Lord?
When we’re dealing with seismic shifts happening in our own lives… When we’re struggling in our marriage. Or with our kids. Or with our health. Or with our business. Or with our finances. Or whatever it is…
We might be crying out to God, If we ever needed you, we need you now.
We’ve got something we need to ask the God of the universe for and we’re praying that he would hear our request and answer.
But here’s what I want you to know today. God has never broken a single promise he has made. And every promise he has made is a Yes and Amen in your life because of Jesus. Here’s what I believe is true and what I want to suggest today… The most powerful prayers we can pray are connected to the PROMISES of God.
The Promise
In 2 Chronicles 7.14, we find one of the most famous promises of God. Here, God speaks to King Solomon after the dedication of the first Temple in Jerusalem. Solomon knew that the people of Israel would not always be faithful to God. That they would sin. And that when they did, when they turned away from God, Solomon knew that might mean that God would remove His divine favor from them.
Solomon knew that you can’t live in disobedience to God and still expect to live under the favor or God. You can’t live in rebellion to God and expect to experience the blessings of God.
But God understood that too. And here’s the promise God made to Solomon and all of Israel…
“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.“
This may be one of the most quoted scriptures in your Bible. And so many times we make it about our country. Or we make it personal. But listen to what God says… He says,
If My People…
If my people who are called by my name…
For the people of Israel who had followed Moses out of the bondage of Egypt into freedom, they were “the people who are called by name.”
But standing on this side of the cross, as people who have decided to follow Jesus out of the bondage of sin into freedom, we know that anyone who has confessed Jesus as Lord now bears the name of Christ. That’s what it means to be a Christian. To be a Christ follower. To be someone who has decided to follow Jesus of Nazareth and totally devote their lives to following the way of Christ, it’s the way of the cross, it’s a Cruciform life.
And if we, as followers of Jesus of Nazareth will…
Humble and Pray and Seek…
humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways…
If we, like the people of God in Jerusalem that day fell to the ground in worship declaring God is good and His faithful love endures forever, like Moses who fell to the ground in worship of Yahweh on Mt Sinai who passed before him declaring His name, Yahweh, the God of unfailing love, slow to anger, full of compassion and mercy and justice,
If we will humble ourselves before God and seek His face. If we will turn away from our sin, away from our wicked ways, away from our pride, our arrogance, our reliance on things other than God, and turn towards God, then God…
Hear from Heaven
will hear from heaven and will forgive our sins and restore our land.
So, if you could ask the God of the universe for something and you knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would hear your request and answer, what would you ask God for?
This has happened more than once, but I remember the first time it happened. My son was probably only 5 or 6 at the time. We were in the front yard. He was wanting to play catch. And I was looking at my phone. I’m sure at the time whoever was calling me or texting me or emailing me, I’m sure at the time it felt important and maybe even urgent. What I remember is that he was talking and I wasn’t listening.
Finally, he said something like, “Dad, will you put down your phone and listen to me.”
Not my finest moment.
As a father, I’ve failed to listen, really listen, to my kids on more than one occasion. As parents, we’ve all done this to one degree or another at some point.
But God, our God, Yahweh, He’s the perfect Father. And whenever you pray here’s the promise.
God HEARS
This is the promise. That no matter how far away from God we’ve gone, we can’t go so far that he wouldn’t be able to hear us. God’s ears are always open. He doesn’t screen our calls. He doesn’t ignore our prayers. Even when he feels far away, he’s closer than we think and he always hears us when we pray.
If you need a promise to hold onto today, you can hold onto this promise… that when you pray the God of the universe HEARS!
But He doesn’t just HEAR…
God FORGIVES
God’s forgiveness is there, available for, ready to be given to any who would pray, any who would come to Him in humility, who would turn away from their sin and turn to God. The road back to God isn’t filled with boxes to check. It’s not, do this before I’ll do that. It’s simply this, turn from your sin and turn towards God. Whenever you do, God is faithful to forgive.
But He doesn’t just HEAR us when we pray, HE doesn’t just FORGIVE us of our sin. If that’s all He had promised, that would be more than enough. But He doesn’t stop there. The promise continues. Because,
God HEALS
God has promised that if we collectively would humble ourselves before Him and repent of our sin, if we would acknowledge that God is God and there is no other, if we would embrace a posture of confession and repentance, if we would do that, God would RESTORE our land. God would HEAL our land.
And right now, I think we could all agree on this, we need God to HEAL our land.
Why Doesn’t He Hear My Prayer?
You may ask… then why hasn’t God answered my prayer?
Why hasn’t God responded to what I’m crying out to God for. I don’t know. I don’t pretend to know the mind of God. But I do appreciate what Tim Keller once said, “God will either give us what we ask for in prayer or give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything he knows.”
Parents, you understand this. You don’t always give your children what they ask for. Instead, you do for them exactly what they would want you to do for them if they knew what you knew. If they had your wisdom and your perspective. That’s what a loving father does.
What A Friend
When I was growing up, we used to sing this old hymn in church originally written in 1855.
What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear;
What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer.
O what piece we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer.
What a friend we have in Jesus. This is the promise we hold onto today,
We can carry everything to God in prayer.
And when we do, when we humble ourselves, turn from our sin, turn toward God and pray… God hears, God forgives, and God heals.
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