Take a Look at Prayer from the Almighty’s Perspective
In the post, The Implications of Omnipotence, I noted that there is nothing that an all-powerful God can’t do, yet, not every prayer is answered—at least not the way we think it should be. Let’s consider how God answers prayer.
Before we criticize God, however, consider:
- Maybe our request is contrary to God’s nature, such as, asking him to harm another person.
- Perhaps what we ask would require someone’s freewill to be superseded, such as, to make someone do something they don’t what to do.
- What if God said “yes” to everything? (Consider the movie Bruce Almighty for a demonstration of how bad that would be.)
- If God answered every prayer every time, immediately solving all our problems, getting us out of jams, and shielding us from the consequences of our actions, God would become our grant-a-wish-genie, literally spoiling us rotten.
When Jesus was teaching about prayer, he noted that even flawed parents know how to give good things to their children, so even more so, our heavenly father will give good things to his children.
- Just as parents may wisely withhold some things for the long-term good of a child, God will do so too.
- Children need chance to learn, grow, and mature, sometimes through failure or disappointment, so too do we.
- Doting and indulgent parents keep a child from maturing and becoming stable adult. God loves us too much to let that happen.
Sometimes, “No” is the best and most loving response. It’s another way God answers prayer.
When it’s in our best interest, however, there’s nothing God can’t and won’t do for us when we ask.
That is the Almighty’s nature. He is omnipotent.
[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 10-12, and today’s post is on Luke 11:13.]
Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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