1 John 5:13-15 - I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.
These are some of the most frustrating bits of the Bible to me—the bits where Jesus promises to give us whatever we ask. I'm thinking of phrases like "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24) and "If you ask Me anything in My Name, I will do it" (John 14:14). Because it sounds like Jesus is making Himself a push-button God—press the right button, and you'll get whatever you want, guaranteed. And right now I would so like to be able to do that, because I've just learned that a dear friend and mentor of mine has passed away, and I would love to raise him from the dead and not have to deal with the pain and grief.
So can I do that? Twenty centuries of Christianity says no. Yes, God is faithful, and yes, He hears our prayers, and He even occasionally raises the dead! But it's clear that we don't always get what we want. If we did, who would ever die?
So if that's not what God means, then what does He mean? John gives us the missing clue to this problem: "This is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us." God is not a fool. He isn't going to hand over the governance of the universe to people like us, who don't know their right hand from their left. And so He commands us to pray for what we want and need—but that extra bit "If it is Your will" is always there, whether we say it out loud or not.
So God invites us to ask—but He reserves the final decision to Himself. And that's our safety, isn't it? We know that whatever we pray for, we cannot cause harm, because God will overrule our mistakes. And though we can't understand why God allows terrible things to happen, we still know that God is in control, and that He loves us—because He gave His Son Jesus to lay down His life for us, to rescue us from evil and bring us back to Himself. And by His rising to life again He broke the power of death over all of us as well, everyone who believes in Him.
So we pray with hope—trusting the God who loves us to give us what we need, and to help us endure when the answer is no. When we see Jesus, we see the heart of God revealed to us. We can wait to understand the rest.
WE PRAY: Lord, give us the good things You know we need—and Your help to endure when grief and trouble come to us. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. When has God said "no" to your prayers?
2. How did that make you feel?
3. How does Jesus' love for you allow you to go on trusting a God you can't understand?
Today's Bible Readings: 2 Samuel 1-2 Luke 24:36-53
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