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The other day while on Facebook, I saw a status update of one my facebook friends proclaiming the goodness of God and how He will grant us the desires of our heart.  I confess my reaction was tinged with some cynicism as I reflected on my own desires that have seemingly been ignored despite earnest, sincere and rightly (or at least I believe) motivated prayers for God to move in a particular situation in my life.  And these are prayers that I have prayed for a good while now, believing that God does hear, does care and is concerned.  Although admittedly my emotional response to delay would seek to refute this at times.

What is even more troubling is that as I pray for God’s will to be done in my life, there are no guarantees that these prayers will be answered.  Even though Matthew and Luke  record Jesus as saying that a snake would not be offered for the fish that is requested, implying that if we present a particular request then we should expect a response corresponding to the nature of that request.  Naturally, this is not a blanket prescription for expecting prayers that are not aligned with God’s mandates in context of the whole counsel of Scripture.  The contexts of these passages also suggests that the gift of the Spirit is what Jesus had in mind and not necessarily a license for a prayer free-for-all.  But even with these restrictions, there is an encouragement to approach God with our requests but those requests are tempered by the sovereign will and reign of God, which may not produce the outcome we desire.

I recall listening to Joni Erikson Tada tell of how desperate she was to be able to walk again and offering up heartfelt and faith-filled prayers for this to happen.  But as time passed and those specific prayers went unanswered, her intimacy with the Lord increased as did her ministry and the increasing number of people impacted with the gospel of Christ.  She recounted that it was certainly a ministry that would not have occurred had her specific requests been granted, how God has used her disability to reach many in ways she had never dreamed of.  I recall in my own life when my husband was alive but sick and home life was very difficult.  I prayed for years for an outcome of salvation, healing and a mended relationship.  Those prayers were not answered.  Instead, he passed away.  But that unmet prayer did charter a much different course than I would have expected.

It does seem that if we are God’s children and He does love and care for us, then the deep desires of our heart should be granted as long as they are in line with His word.   If we are told to come to Him with our requests but those requests are not granted, then one might ask how this demonstrates the love of a Father.  It may prompt the question marked by the title of this post, so what’s the point?  What is the point of serving a God that would deny us the deepest desires of our heart.

I suppose that the reasonable answer would be to consider our existence in context of God’s eternal purpose and plan, which entail a reconciliation with His creation that upholds and testifies of His glory.  It is about Him and His glory, that we exist for.  Consider question #1 of the Westminster Catechism:  What is the chief end of man?  To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  This of course being a synthesis of the Biblical account of our existence.  It is an account of God choosing the outcomes of situations that may place fullness in the hands of some, while others can only look to their empty ones and ask “what about me”. Scenarios that highlight what Romans 9:15 indicates that God will have mercy on whom He has mercy.

But to that person who is hurting, grieving and expecting a different scenario, this may not provide a great deal of comfort.  It may in fact, produce the opposite affect of thinking of a God who really doesn’t care about us, our plans or our desires leaving only the residual of asking “what’s the point”.  It may propel a response to opt out of the relationship established with God and to conclude that  following Christ as just not worth it.

But following Christ does leave one option that not following Him does not, and that is hope.  If we don’t have Him, then we have nothing.  Consider the status apart from Christ, what Paul says to the Gentiles in Ephesus:

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘Circumcision’, which is performed in the flesh by human hands – remember that you were at the time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:11-12).

We may throw up our hands in despair and walk away, but walk away to what?  Because the only other option is a life without God.  If you believe anything about the fall, you have to believe that surely separation from God is the only course of action the fall produced for all mankind.  And this is an utterly hopeless situation.  Sure the temporal joys of life may suggest that life without God is doable and even enjoyable.  But it is masked in the deception of long term avoidance, that in the end the temporary will pay off.  That’s a bad way to hedge your bets, in my humble opinion.

It boggles my mind that there are so many accounts of people who have placed their trust in the promise of redemption that could only come through God’s prescriptive course, yet the outcomes of their lives suggested that they may have hoped in nothing.  Even in the Biblical account of  such people, we hear much of the great heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 but somehow want to bypass the latter part of the chapter beginning at vs. 35.  People who hoped for that promise were tortured, mocked, imprisoned, sawn in two, destitute, ill-treated, wandering in deserts, caves and holes in the ground.  They did not receive what was promised yet they still hoped.  For the text says in vs. 39 that they gained approval through their faith.  Their hope was not in vain.  I also consider the afflictions of Paul and others in the early church as well as the many missionaries who regularly put their lives at risk, abandoning earthly comfort to proclaim a message that many consider nuts.

When Paul challenges the church at Corinth (1 Cor 15:12-19) concerning their disbelief in the resurrection of the dead, he is speaking to this hope.  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised and if he has not been raised, what’s the point?  It’s useless and we should be considered fools for placing trust in something that is utterly hopeless.  Because if we are still separated from God and dead in our sins, then we certainly of all people are to be most pitied.

And trust in Christ is the point.  That trust does not promise a bed of roses during our earthly sojourn but it does guarantee an eternal hope.  Moreover, an accurate consideration of that trust is essential, that our faith is placed in the accomplishments on the cross to provide us with reconciliation to a holy God of whom we were an enemy to.  The promise is an eternal existence with Him.  It’s why as masses gravitate towards churches and messages that promise better lives and changed circumstances in hope of satisfaction for this life now, but without a complete or accurate consideration of the gospel message, we see  much disillusionment and creative theistic imagery, as CMP indicated in his recent post. If we don’t place an accurate trust in Christ and what He came to accomplish, then we’ve missed the point.

Let’s face it, life is just plain hard sometimes and we don’t always get what we want, as that famous Rolling Stones song says.  It would be nice if things played out exactly how we’d like, to fill in the picture of our dreams.  For some it does seem that it goes that way.  That has not been my experience.  Sure, I have seen God do some pretty spectacular things in my life and set me on paths I would have never imagined.  But this has been juxtaposed with some real heartache.  I sometimes struggle to believe that God cares about the deepest longings of my heart.

In John 6:66-69, after many left Jesus he turned to Simon Peter and asked him if he wanted to leave too.  When I turned my heart towards Christ 10 years ago after a 13 year period of sin and rebellion, Peter’s response to Jesus resonated and still resonates in my heart today…”Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have believed and have come to know the You are the Holy One of God.”  So I know that in spite of unfufilled desires, if I turn away from this, then there is absolutely nothing.

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