“So
when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes,
even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered
with blood. (Isaiah 1:15)
Therefore
thus says the Lord, “Behold I am bringing disaster on them which they will not
be able to escape; though they will cry to Me, yet I will not listen to them.
(Jeremiah 11:11)
Above are
quotes from two of the major prophets[1] where the God of Israel
specifically says that although people pray to Him, He will not listen. During Isaiah’s time, he continually called
the Southern Kingdom of Judah to repentance, to forsake the false gods that
people where worshiping and to return to faithfulness to the Mosaic covenant. And although there were some instances of
revival between Isaiah’s time and Jeremiah’s time, the nation still followed
other gods and broke the covenant with the God of Israel. Sins and infidelity disconnect people from
God.
One Proverb
of Solomon says that God is not with the wicked or lawless and that their
prayers He will not listen to (15:29). These
passages seem to express that unconfessed sins and an unrepentant attitude keep
God from listening to prayer. Judge for
yourself: two of the most common metaphors in scripture for the relationship
between God and His people are the marriage relationship and a father and child
relationship (Is. 45:5, Revelation 21:2, and Deuteronomy 32:6, Ephesians
4:6). Imagine a father/child
relationship where the children never obey their father. Imagine a marital relationship where one
spouse is always unfaithful to the other.
These images are how God describes the people throughout the prophets
(Is. 1:21, Jer. 3:9). Moreover,
understand the Biblical imagery of the unfaithful one; they commit adultery and
then pretend that they have done nothing wrong (Prov. 30:20). Which separates more, the actual act of
adultery or having no guilt or repentance after? So, consider if an unanswered prayer goes
unanswered due to unconfessed or unrepented sins. God is merciful and ready to forgive (1 John
1:9). But remember how Satan was
described when under the disguise of a snake, he was called crafty, this could
be because he is crafty with how sins can snare and trap us. We’ve already explored other reasons that
prayers go unanswered, and next week we have more to explore, but this area of
a follower’s life should be examined if their prayer life seems unfruitful.
Struggling in prayer
Struggling in prayer
1995. Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible.
LaHabra: The Lockman Foundation.
[1]
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel and often Daniel are considered the
major prophets because of the amount they wrote and not because they are more
important than the other twelve.
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