Pray and Wait

God has a good and holy purpose for these periods of silence. He wants to test our faith that we might see for ourselves just how weak and dependent we are on him for all good things. His goal is nothing less than to heighten our spiritual sensitivities in order to draw us into more intimate fellowship and faithful obedience with him.

Prayer goes unanswered because God knows our needs far better than we understand our desires.

Your loving Father knows what you need before you ask him, therefore... ask him!? Jesus wants us to see that prayer is more about changing us than it is about either informing God or moving him to action.

As a sacrifice of time and energy that could have been used for other things, prayer is an act of worship, one by which our hearts are exercised in faith, not merely in religious ritual. "Ask," Jesus tells us, "just ask." Why? Because true prayer cultivates humility. It requires us to acknowledge our helplessness. We ask because Jesus told us to ask. We ask because all that is good comes from God, not from our own efforts.

As we build a lifestyle of prayer, this regular acknowledgment of God's fatherly provision is infinitely more valuable than anything else we may receive. The main thing is not that in the future we might get what we pray for. The main thing is that in the present, as we pray, our greatest need is already being met. That need is the transforming work of God in our hearts, with prayer itself as one of God's appointed means of meeting that need. When Jesus promised a "reward" for those who pray in secret (Matthew 6:6), perhaps this refining work of God in our hearts is at least partly what he had in mind.

The Spirit prays for us because our knowledge is incomplete. Matthew Henry writes, "We are short-sighted... like foolish children, that are ready to cry for fruit before it is ripe and fit for them."

One of my young daughters loves to eat pears, but she does not know how to tell when they are ripe. As a result, she will often grab a hard, green pear off the kitchen counter, take one bite, and leave the rest behind, claiming "it is too hard."

We often do the same. We want the fruit God is preparing for our future, but we want it now, before it is ripe. We do this because we are ignorant of what is best for us and, therefore, don't know how to pray as we should.

But the Spirit prays according to perfect knowledge. He prays with "groanings too deep for words." The Spirit pleads on our behalf in longings that are verbally inexpressible. This is his silent prayer ministry.

- Paul Tautges, Brass Heavens: Reasons for Unanswered Prayer

Trust and Obey

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness" - and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." - James 2:21-24 (ESV)

"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back." - Hebrews 11:17-19 (ESV)

But we never can prove
The delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay
For the favour He shows
And the joy He bestows
Are for them who will trust and obey

Trust and obey
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey

Justification by Works of the Law

"For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law." - Romans 3:28 (ESV)

"You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." - James 2:24 (ESV)

Justification by faith apart from works of the law is not the same as justification by faith apart from works, let alone justification by faith alone. If it were so, Scripture would say so. As it is, Scripture says that we are justified by works (not of the law) and not by faith alone.

In other words, we are justified by faith, just not by faith alone.

"For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." - James 2:26 (ESV)