Running To Win

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. When our prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling, many simply give up on God. Our house is foreclosed, our job is taken away, or a loved one dies anyway. We have to go on living.

Today we're going to hear about managing disappointment when prayers are not answered. From The Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running To Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line.

Dave McAllister: Pastor Lutzer, when God does not appear to answer our prayers, we can have a sinking feeling of being abandoned when we needed the help the most.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Dave, I think that we've all been there, especially those who are struggling with depression, those who are going through horrendous suffering, unanswered questions, or perhaps the death of a family member as you mentioned in your intro. We begin to think that God has abandoned us and we begin to ask the question, "Where are You?"

One of the things that we have to remember is simply this, and it's really sobering to realize that apart from the prayer of salvation, all other answers to prayer are temporary. Let's take even the resurrection of Lazarus. What a wonderful miracle. As a matter of fact, he was restored back to his two sisters. But you know what? Lazarus died again. I can imagine that if someone threatened his life, he might have said, "Okay, go ahead and kill me. I've been there."

You and I must recognize that we have to live in light of eternity and not simply in the light of time. I've written a book entitled, Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayers? One of the things that I want to do in that book is to help all of us to manage those disappointments. Here's what you can do to receive a copy. Go to rtwoffer.com or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. But now let us listen carefully even as we discuss the topic of how do we handle the disappointment of unanswered prayer.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: My subject today is living with unanswered prayer. The subtitle is coping with disappointment with God. The question is, do Christians believe in prayer? This week, I received an incredible email. I don't receive a lot of emails directly, but through my media department—our media department, I should say—I received one. It's about three pages long, but it's incredible because it deals specifically with the disappointment of unanswered prayer.

Last night, or was it this morning, I actually took some of the notes down to let you know the deep pain that this woman is feeling at the age of 40. She said, "I am desperate and panicked. I question none of the doctrines of the Christian faith: the deity of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ." She was brought up in a believing home, trusting Christ early, but doubting His love. She said, "I don't experience any peace that passes understanding. I'm seeking, but I'm not finding. There's no sense of the presence of God. Shouldn't I have encountered God by now?"

"The Bible says," and then she goes through all the verses: "draw near to God," "delight in God and He'll give you the desires of your heart." She says none of this feels true. She is a virgin. She's kept herself for some man, but she desperately would like to be married and have children. That's not happening and her biological clock is running. She said, "I feel such loneliness that I feel stomach sickness."

Older single women understand what's happening there. She said, "I'm lonely. I'm still living with my parents. I wanted to be an actress. That isn't working out. I am now a mental health counselor and have very few clients. Nothing goes right. Should not my faith anchor me rather than confuse me? Shouldn't I serve and experience the personal nature of my faith? God seems to have given me nothing." She said, "I pray all the time. I just pray continually, and I really have no sense. In fact, there's one phrase that comes to mind. It is as if I am talking into a vein atmosphere. Where is God in the midst of my struggle?"

Now, of course, there are all kinds of experiences like that where people are very disappointed with God. Some time ago, as you know, in Texas, you had this terrible flood of taking a camp away. I think more than 100 died. I actually lost track of the number of people who were swept away in the flood, little children. The Christian parents are asking, "Can't we expect God to at least protect His children? Couldn't the weather forecast have been predicting this earlier? Couldn't the staff have acted?" It is if, if, if.

Then you have all the stories of people who have terminal diseases, who are being prayed for. Sometimes day and night, there's prayer and fasting. Sometimes we see a miracle and sometimes there is none, even mothers with small children being taken away. You say to yourself, "Where is God?" That is why this message actually is managing to live with unanswered prayer.

I'm going to be giving you some specific instruction, but before we get there, of course, what we're going to do is to look at the Bible. I want you to turn to the 10th chapter of the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 10, we encounter some suffering Christians and we have one of the greatest statements of faith in chapters 10 and 11 of the book of Hebrews. If you were to turn there now, I want you to be able to grasp the kind of suffering that these believers are enduring without any interference or deliverance from God.

Notice what it says in chapter 10, beginning at verse 32: "But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach." I preached in Albania twice on a preaching tour. It was a fascinating story, but what we learned about communism was unbelievable. Under communism, pastors were taken down the street with Bibles and they were humiliated in ways that I don't want to describe in a public audience.

These people were exposed to public humiliation, but in addition to that, sometimes they were partners with those who were so treated. In other words, there were those who were willing to identify with Christians who were going through this. That's different, isn't it? Today, if a Muslim comes to faith in Christ, Christians don't want to identify because sometimes he doesn't want them to because their families back home might be persecuted. But sometimes Christians say, "Hey, I want to stay away."

They were willing to identify. Later on in the book of Hebrews, it talks about those who visited those who were in prison. Then comes this phrase which jumps out at me: "For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property." Can you name one American, including me, who would joyfully accept the plundering of our property? I read that and I say, "Where in the world is all that joy coming from?" That is so contrary to everything that you and I have grown up with.

It says, "Since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward." That's what young people are doing today. Isn't that what we hear when it comes to statistics? There are young people who are brought up in the church and then they grow up and they go to college and they deconstruct. What they're doing is they're throwing away their confidence and throwing away the faith. He's saying, "Some of you are in danger of doing that."

I'm going to skip to verse 39: "But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith to the preservation of their souls." It dawned on me that this is where chapter 11 begins. We usually begin with chapter 11, but this is the great catalog of faith. Even this morning, I was contemplating this fantastic verse, verse six: "And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." That's a good translation. God rewards those who diligently seek Him out.

Now, I'm going to give you three facts about faith, and then what we shall do is to get very specific in terms of managing your disappointment with God. Fact number one is simply this: faith sometimes changes your circumstances. I mean, just think of what was done by faith. In verse four, by faith Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. Abel did it by faith and was received; Cain was rejected.

Verse five, by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found. He was miraculously taken to heaven because of his faith. He was commended as having pleased God. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. Then verse seven, by faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark. Noah told the people that there was going to be rain. There had not been rain on the earth before that time, and I'm sure that they believed it was a conspiracy until it rained and all the fact-checkers drowned.

But notice it says that Noah went out by faith and God preserved him. Verse eight, Abraham, you know his story. We could go through the whole list. He says in verse 16, "But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." Then we have to skip through to verse 32: "And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight."

The walls of Jericho fell down by faith. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Stop. Look at all these miracles that happened by people who had faith. Now, in the middle of verse 35, you have a radical change. You know the verses in the Bible were not inspired—that is, the verse numbers were not inspired. I think that the folks who did it did this wrongly. In the middle of verse 35, you should have a break, a brand-new paragraph, and a brand-new verse. What we have from here to the end of the chapter are people of faith who experienced no miracle at all.

Notice it says in verse 35, "Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two"—that's probably the prophet Isaiah—"they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."

I might add there was no deliverance, no miracle, no walls were falling, no lions' mouths were being closed. We love to tell the story of Daniel, and it's a true story. But my wife and I have been to Rome. We've been in the Coliseum, the ancient ruins. We've been in the Circus Maximus. It is there where hungry lions were taken and the Christians were torn to shreds and there was no angel that closed their mouths.

But I want you to notice this: these folks who experience no miracle are also, of course, heroes of faith. You don't need to experience a miracle in order to be a hero of faith. You have to be able to endure. If you endure properly, you also can be a hero of faith and you don't need to see a miracle.

This is amazing. So first of all, faith sometimes changes our circumstances; it brings about miracles. Secondly, faith sometimes does not bring about a miracle, but it's okay as long as you endure, as long as you are faithful in the midst of your non-miracle experience. These folks, when it talks about those running around in sheepskins, goatskins, dens and caves of the earth, it was probably during the time of the Maccabees when Antiochus Epiphanes came against Jerusalem. I'll tell you the kind of persecution that they did. They took children, I hate to say this, but they took children and they put them on chariot wheels and tied them on and then they ran and tortured them. There's no deliverance. Sorry.

Verse 39: "And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." God is saying that they didn't get the miracle that they wanted. No doubt they were crying to God for deliverance, but they were commended for their faith. Then what He's saying is they anticipated the coming of Jesus Christ, so they aren't totally complete yet until Christ comes. Of course, at the end, there's going to be a resurrection and all, and that gets into the issue of prophecy.

But here's what I want to say. First of all, faith sometimes changes our circumstances. Sometimes faith does not change our circumstances. Thirdly, faith does not judge God by circumstances. You go on believing, miracle or no miracle. Let me give you an example. The 12th chapter of Acts says there that none other than James was put to death by Herod. Peter was to be brought out the next day also to be beheaded. Lo and behold, Peter's sleeping.

By the way, why would Peter be sleeping when he was anticipating that day to be beheaded? The only reason I can think of is he wanted to be rested when he arrived in heaven. Peter is sleeping and having a good nap and an angel taps him on the side and says, "Hey Peter, get up. We're going out of here." They walk out of the jail, the doors open just like if you go to a department store; the door anticipates your coming and it opens. They go right through everything.

Then you say, "Oh, it's because the church was praying for him." Yes, they were. But they weren't praying with a whole lot of faith. When Peter shows up at the door and Rhoda—God bless Rhoda—says, "Peter's at the door," what did they say? "Well, of course, because we've been praying for a miracle." They said, "No, it's his ghost. It's his spirit. We don't believe it." They didn't pray with a lot of faith.

There you have an example of God heals one person and delivers them and the other person is not delivered; he's put to death. How do you explain it? It's the mystery of God. Some of you struggle with jealousy. The reason that you do is somebody has a bigger ministry, a bigger this, a bigger that, more influence here, more influence there. Do you remember when Jesus said to Peter in John 21, "Peter, when you're old, somebody's going to stretch you and take you where you don't want to go and they're going to stretch you out"? John said this indicated by the death he was to die. Peter ended up being crucified. Tradition says he wanted to be crucified upside down because he didn't think he was worthy to be crucified like Christ.

When Jesus told him that, Peter says, "Well, what about this guy? What about John?" Jesus said, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you? You follow me." When you're tempted to envy others because of jealousy, remember it's the sovereignty of God who puts people in certain positions. Your responsibility is to be faithful and content where you are, serving the Lord with all your heart.

Now let me give you six different admonitions of how to cope when your prayers aren't answered and how to endure. Are you ready to write? Number one: continue to pray, and especially pray for wisdom. I can't tell you how often I have claimed James chapter 1 verse 5: "If any of you lack wisdom." By the way, do you know what James says in the opening of his book? He says, "If any of you fall into various trials, rejoice." Boy, that's hard to do. But James says if you lack wisdom, ask of God who gives to all men liberally and doesn't withhold, but ask in faith and He'll give it to you.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: This is Pastor Lutzer. I just want to give a word of testimony here. From time to time, all of us envy others. We envy those who we think are more successful than we are and we begin to ask the question, "Well, what about me? What about him? What about her?" One of the things I've found in my own life is to genuinely give praise to God for those who are successful, those who have wide ministries. It's wonderful to be able to pray for them without this feeling of "Why me?" or "Why not me?"

All that to say this: there are times in our life when indeed we do encounter disappointment with unanswered prayer. In my brand-new book entitled, Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayers?, I deal with those kinds of issues. As a matter of fact, the truths that you've listened to in this message are in this book. I did it for this reason: I recognize that so many people leave the faith because of disappointment. So how do we handle the disappointment that we have with God? For a gift of any amount, this book can be yours. Why don't you be among some of the first people to receive your copy? Here's what you do: go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Because I believe that this book is going to be such a blessing, I'm going to give you that info again. Hope that you have a pen or pencil handy. You can go to rtwoffer.com because for a gift of any amount, this book can be yours. rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Let's join hands and run together toward the finish line.

Dave McAllister: You can write to us at Running To Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. When tragedy takes a spouse or child from us, we go through times of grief, sorrow, facing the inevitable rebuilding of our lives. Making sense of the prayers we prayed that were not answered is an ongoing challenge as we pick up the pieces. Next time, we conclude our series on the triumph of unanswered prayer with final thoughts on managing disappointment when prayers are not answered. Plan to join us. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running To Win is sponsored by The Moody Church.