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When
God Doesn't Hear
"Behold, the
LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But
your iniquities have separated between you and
your God, and your sins have hid His face from
you, that He will not hear." (Isaiah
59:1-2)
People
often complain that God doesn't hear their
prayers, especially when God does not respond in
the way they would like. But He can hear, all
right! "He that planted the ear, shall he not
hear?" He even hears our thoughts. "Thou knowest .
. . my thought afar off" (Psalm
94:9;
139:2).
It
is not that God
cannot
hear, but it just may be that we have not met the
conditions for answered prayer, so that He
will
hear. Probably the most important of these
conditions is obedience to His Word. "If ye abide
in me, and my words abide in you," said Jesus, "ye
shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto
you" (John
15:7).
But, "if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord
will not hear me" (Psalm
66:18).
"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss,
that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James
4:3).
There
are other conditions, of course. "Let him ask in
faith, nothing wavering" (James
1:6).
"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I
do," said Jesus (John
14:13).
"If we ask any thing according to his will . . .
we know that we have the petitions that we desired
of him" (1
John 5:14-15).
Even if we do
meet all the conditions, however, He may not
answer immediately, or in the way we prefer, and
He might even answer
no.
After all, He knows better than we just what is
best for us, and He will see that "all things work
together for good" for us, if we truly "love God"
(Romans
8:28).
But, first of
all, we need to check our lives in relation to His
Word. Then, "if our heart condemn us not . . .
whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we
keep his commandments" (1
John 3:21-22).
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