Will God answer our prayers if we have enough faith?
Mar 5, 2011
The Base for Grace - part thirty-two in a study of the book of Hebrews
By Mike Gaudet
Will God answer our prayers if we have enough faith?
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:13-16
We imagine that God answers the prayers of those whose faith is strong. We assume that we don’t get what we ask for because we lack faith. We believe that if and when we acquire enough faith, God will give us what we ask for.
It probably comes as a surprise to read about men and women in the Bible who “did not receive the things promised” even though they “were still living by faith when they died.” Their faith was intact throughout the duration of their earthly existence. Nevertheless, their lives were characterized by three uncomfortable realities.
Welcoming.
Admitting.
Longing.
Welcoming: “They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.” These “Hall of Faith” inductees lived in eager anticipation of receiving what God promised them. They died before they took possession of it.
Until recently, travelers disembarking from planes were greeted by loved ones the minute they walked into the terminal. In the wake of 9/11 airport security has tightened. Now, loved ones have to wait behind glass partitions for friends and family to arrive. It‘s common to see craned necks and waving arms reaching out towards approaching travelers.
These men and women of faith craned their necks and waved their arms at approaching divine promises. They were still waving when they died.
Admitting: “And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.” These men and women of faith laughed and loved, raised families, enjoyed friends, pursued hobbies, held down jobs, but never fully satisfied the deepest desires of their hearts.
If they believed that they had reached their final destination they would have felt slighted, resentful. They would have wondered, “Is this all there is?” However, they weren’t ashamed to admit that their lives, while meaningful, were not completely satisfying. They understood that this world was not their home. They realized that they were just “passing through.”
Longing: “If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one.” They thought of themselves as being “en route.” They longed for home.
God will not reward our faith with a “heaven on earth” existence. This isn’t heaven. It never will be. No matter how much faith we have, how much we pray, how much we give, how much of the Bible we learn, how much we serve, God will not eliminate our need to welcome, admit and long.
Unrealistic expectations have been called “premeditated resentments.” The unrealistic belief that God will reward faith with satisfaction on this side of eternity is a set up for resentment.
In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis suggests that the lack of satisfaction that we experience in this life is really the result of a kind of divine “homesickness.”
“There have been times when I think that we do not desire heaven; but more often I have found myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it -- tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear.”
Granted, there are pleasures to enjoy and meaningful endeavors to pursue in this world. God does “satisfy your desires with good things.” Psalm 103:5
There’s enough beauty and fulfillment in this world to whet our appetites . . .
. . . but not enough to satisfy them.
That will have to wait for heaven.
“And one day I’ll be sleeping, when death knocks on my door.
And I’ll awake and find that I’m not homesick anymore.
I’ll be home.
Going home.
Where I belong.”*
*from “Home Where I Belong” by B.J. Thomas