A recent comment I received on a past post came from a man who had been a Christian for 45 years. He bemoaned that God seemed to him to be a “do nothing” God. No doubt he had something specific in mind. Many Christians would immediately object to such an observation. They have noted many answers to prayer, even miraculous answers to prayer. That is not everybody’s experience. In fact, God can seem so far removed from some of the world’s problems that the idea that God created the world and then abandoned it could survive. So, what can be said about God’s interaction with us and the world?
Let’s start big and general and work to the more personal. We live in a universe that is so specifically ordered that it had to be engineered by someone. I do not have the faith to tolerate the fail safes of secular naturalism: a multiverse to explain the fine tuning of the universe for life on Earth, no explanation worth entertaining for how life started, not taking to heart that natural selection needs something to select and that observable mutations only destroy information and not create it. I could go on, but it seems the best explanation of the evidence that God created the universe.
Then there is the interface of God with Israel. There is big stuff that is hard to validate because of how long ago it was. Still, there is the surviving Old Testament that clearly foretold of Christ and His purpose. Jesus is verifiable. His life, death, forsakeness, and resurrection is doing a lot. All of it is for the benefit of human salvation.
Now let’s get personal. The Bible shares this fact that affects us all:
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV)
If we truly believe Jesus’ story and trust the promises connected to it for our eternity, then God had to do something. The Spirit had to break through barriers that are the product of our sinful nature and create a bond with us.
There is such a thing as being a cultural Christian only. You can enter the sphere of the Church but never believe the promise of Christ. You might believe in the existence of God, but it doesn’t change you over time. It is a tough diagnosis, but some are not connected to Christ and consequently do not have access to God in prayer. God will be a “do nothing” to them.
Even for those who do have a connection to Christ, prayer has a few conditions. If we do not really believe that God can do something we ask, then it won’t be granted. If we are being disobedient about something that God wants us to work on, he may reject our requests.
If neither of these things are barriers, it comes down to one of three things: Are we just bad observers of God’s actions in our lives, is there a legitimate reason why God would not wish to grant our prayer or will achieving it will take time even for God.
To even attempt to answer this takes specific knowledge about what is being asked and expected.
If what we are praying for is that someone else would come to Christ for salvation, then please read this post: https://givingchrist.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3372&action=edit
If we are praying for God to bring peace to a war zone, then this post might help:https://givingchrist.com/2024/05/07/prayer-praying-for-peace/
If we are asking for a change of health for ourselves or somebody else, then please read this post:https://givingchrist.com/2024/04/16/prayer-reaching-inside-the-curse/
Are these answers “fail-safes” for God? Some will think so. I can still point to the big and important moves mentioned above. I can also point to how God did answer prayers for health, for peace, and for conversion. If God fails to come through on these in some circumstances, this doesn’t mean that God doesn’t exist, doesn’t listen, or doesn’t act. We live in complex circumstances that require patience and faith. Sometimes we must accept that God’s answer isn’t going to be what we want. He is God and not our genie. Sorting through the reasons is tough. May God help us to not be discouraged.
Giving Christ 
❤️❤️❤️
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