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- 4. Punishment
Sometimes, God does not answer our requests because of sin in our lives. Even following the repentance of a child for their sin, a wise parent will discipline him promptly. Greater sins require greater punishment.
One example from Scripture makes this point absolutely clear. David the king, who followed Saul, was described as a man after God’s own heart. Yet what do we see of him? After being king for some time, his army was away at war and David was back in his palace idle. As a result of being unengaged by any pressing needs, he found himself up on the roof surveying the city and his eyes came upon a woman bathing. He found out from his servants who she was, Bathsheba the wife of Uriah, a man in David’s army and one of the member’s of the “Mighty Men of David” who had been with him before he became king. Despite the fact that she was married, and despite who her husband was, David sent for her and impregnated her. Not long after, Bathsheba sent word to David that she was pregnant and, obviously, this was a problem for David.
First he tried to cover up his sin by sending for Uriah from the battle lines, inviting him to dinner on the pretence of getting an update on how the war was going while intending to get him drunk. Then David tried to send Uriah home to be with his wife so that he would believe the child was his. But Uriah did not go home that night. As the other soldiers he fought with were away from home and risking their lives, he felt it would not be right for him to go to his wife that night. He spent the evening instead with the men of David, sleeping in the guardhouse with them.
As his plan to cover up his sin by pretending the baby was Uriah’s did not work, David sent a sealed note with Uriah to his general, instructing the general to place Uriah in the fiercest part of the battle and then pulling back his troops so that Uriah would be killed. This time David’s plan worked and Uriah was killed. David had murdered him, just as if he had shot him with the killing arrow himself.
David married Bathsheba shortly after, and she had their baby: a son. Soon after this, Nathan, a prophet of God came to David. He told him the story of David’s sin with Bathsheba, changing it to a rich man who took the lamb of a poor man when he had many of his own. David burned with fury and promised to execute the man who had done this thing. Nathan revealed that it was David himself who had done it.
Soon after, his infant son became sick. David repented of his sin before God and pleaded with him for the life of his son. But the son died. Actions have consequences, and David was only beginning to find this out. One of David’s sons raped David’s daughter from another wife. The daughter’s brother murdered his half-brother in response. That son later rebelled against David, causing a brutal war before finally being killed. Numerous other problems were to result.
The reason? God had taken David from a lowly shepherd to be king over Israel. He had blessed David greatly. And after this unprecedented exaltation, David stole the wife of a friend and had him killed to cover up his sin. Then he lived in unrepentance without remembering God for a year after this.
Such wickedness and willful sin required a punishment. And despite David’s pleas for mercy, God took the life of his son.
When we sin against God, he does not smile and say, “It’s no big deal.” God loves us. As someone recently said, “Asking God for bad things not to happen to us is like asking God not to love us.” Or, in biblical terms,
“11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor detest His correction; 12 For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.” Proverbs 3:11-12.
Sometimes, the results of our sin can be hard to bear. Yet, in all of it, we must trust God. He is not unfair. The punishment is nothing greater than we can bear and far less than our sins deserve. If God is not answering your prayers, however, it may be because of unconfessed sin in your heart. As the Psalmist wrote,
“18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” Psalm 66:18.
- 5. For Our Growth in Christ
“7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
The Apostle Paul – a man who served Christ with more zeal than almost anyone who ever lived – was in danger of being too exalted by revelations that God had given him. God sent him some form of persecution to weigh him down. Does Paul complain about this? No indeed! He rejoices, because the reason he is being afflicted is to grow in Christ. So that it is Christ alone, and not we ourselves, through Whom our work of service to Christ is done. Also, James writes,
“2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” James 1:2-3.
Sometimes God allows a situation to occur or to continue to cause us to grow in Him. We who are believers in Christ, those for whom He gave His life, are being transformed into the image of Christ. Such transformation requires pain. Just as Christ made Himself like us and suffered pain and even death on our behalf. More than that, He bore the weight of our sin on the cross of Calvary, taking the punishment we deserved because we were unable to bear it. As He bore our pain, we are to follow His example and share in His sufferings, knowing that these things are but for a time. Our labor is not in vain in the Lord, if you are a believer in Christ, this life will be but a memory upon His return.
Thus, when we pray for relief in some area or a removal of something that is hard on us, if God does not meet your request, do not assume He is uncaring or impotent. More importantly, do not waste your trial. Recognize that it is an intrinsic part of your transformation to the likeness of Christ Jesus.
- 6. God has a better plan in store.
“3 [The Lord] will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Psalm 121:3-4.
God was waiting the perfect time to act. God had acted similarly in bringing His people to Egypt. Joseph, the son of Jacob, was hated by his brothers. Out of jealousy, because of Jacob’s obvious favoritism towards Joseph, his brothers took him and sold him to slave traders. He was bought by the Captain of the Guard in Egypt: A man named Potiphar. Through hard work and the blessing of God, Joseph rose to overseer over Potiphar’s household. Potiphar trusted Joseph so much that he stopped even checking to see if Joseph was being honest, he trusted him so much. But Potiphar’s wife had eyes for Joseph, and when he rejected her advances, she vengefully told her husband that Joseph had tried to rape her. Joseph was then thrown into prison for several years. Yet it was here in prison that Joseph was in position to complete God’s plan. Because of his character, the jailer made him overseer over the other prisoners. Subsequently, he was able to render a service to a prisoner who was influential in getting him released and bringing him later to the attention of Pharaoh. The end result? Through the wisdom God had given him, Joseph was appointed by Pharaoh to second-in-command of all of Egypt, only under Pharaoh himself.
Thus, God provided a home for Joseph’s family from the fierce famine in Canaan. And through the subsequent slavery of Israel in Egypt, God set the stage to reveal Himself to Egypt and call out the people of Israel as His own chosen people – to set His love and blessing upon them.
In Gethsemane, the night before Jesus died, He prayed to the Father, asking Him that if some other way could be found to redeem His people, that it might happen. God did not grant that request: But He did grant Jesus’ other request: After petitioning the Father in this way, Jesus prayed: “Not my will, but Yours be done.”
This is the pattern which all our prayers ought to take. God is all-wise. He has a perfect plan for all eternity. When we petition Him for what we desire, we should always pray for His will to be accomplished. As Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done…”
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