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vently praying all along because she
believed that prayer could change
things. So she hesitated, tried to caU
others to pray for the lad, and while
she was doing so, an intern carne to
her. He apologized and told her that
they had somehow made a mistake.
They had returned to the room and
Tound Richard sitting up, playing
with the sheet they had draped over
him!
A neurological specialist was
called in to examine him. He saw a
bump on the back of his head, but
told the other doctors and nurses
that the boy could not have been
dead. Yet they insisted that he had
been!
"Well, he's all right now," the
specialist wistfully concluded.
And the boy certainly was! Was
this recent experience a real answer
to fervent, believing prayer?
A skeptic might insist that the
nurses and doctors had simply made
a rnistake; but Richard's parents
know better.
Lost at Sea
Many people have heard the saga
of World War 1 aee pilot Eddie
Rickenbacker, who was lost at sea
during World War
JI
for severa!
weeks, drifting airnlessly on a rub–
ber life raft without food and water.
After his plane had crashed, he
prayed that God would intervene
and have merey. Miraculously, he
and
his
companions were finally res–
cued after many harrowing brushes
with death.
A more personal story, however,
has to do with sorne teen-age boys
who were swimming in the breakers
off the southern coast of Taiwan
about twenty years ago. The water
was rough that day, and a treacher–
ous undertow quickly caught two of
them and swiftly carried them out to
sea.
There was no help available. The
two boys looked like pin pricks bob–
bing up and down about two hun–
dred yards offshore. The situation
seemed utterly hopeless.
26
With anguish and earnestness, the
older brother of one of the boys si–
lently, intently prayed for a rniracle.
There was no way he could rescue
them.
Just as he finished praying, he
looked down the shoreline and
spied a group of Chinese Nationalist
soldiers about to begin maneuvers.
They happened to have with them a
large, rubber life raft with oars.
The young man raced breath–
Jessly down the beach, shouting at
the top of
his
lungs to the soldiers,
pointing excitedly to the ocean
where his brother and friend were
drifting. Neither could understand
the language of the other, but when
the Chinese troopers scanned the
ocean where he pointed, they saw
two little specks out
in
the water,
sized up the situation, and rushed
their life raft into the waves.
The two swimmers were saved.
And you will never convince that
young man on the beach that bis
prayers were not answered in an im–
mediate, spectacular way. I know -
1was that young roan.
Many other examples of an–
swered prayer could be cited. But
sorne people would still claim that
an answer is "a lucky accident"- a
mere "coincidence." They might ar–
gue, "What about all the prayers
that go unanswered? What about all
the times when God does
not
inter–
vene?"
Is there a reason - or reasons -
for
unanswered
prayers?
Key to the Problem
Let's face it. Most
praye~s
are not
answered. But that does not prove
that no prayers are answered! There
inay be specific, credible reasons
why many prayers don't achieve
miraculous results.
The Bible claims to be a book
about God and contains much in–
formation about prayer.
It
may be
well worth our time to examine its
contents on this subject.
Let's grant, for the moment, that
the Bible is a book which can be be-
lieved - that it is truth. What, then,
does it say about answered versus
unanswered prayer?
One key is found in the words of
the apostle James, in the New Testa–
ment, who challenged the people of
his day with these ringing words:
"What is causing the quarrels and
fights among you? Isn' t it because
there is a whole army of evil desi res
within you? You want what you
don't have, so you kil i to get it. You
long for what others have, and can't
afford it, so you start a fight to take
it away from them. And yet the rea–
son you don't have what you want is
that you don't ask God for it"
(James 4:1-2,
The Living Bible).
(Hereafter, unless otherwise stated,
all scriptures quoted are from
The
Living Bible.)
That is part of the reason prayers
go unanswered, or hopeless situ–
ations remain hopeless - because
many people don't pray.
But, James continues, "And even
when you do ask you don't get it be–
cause your whole airo is wrong -
you want only wbat will give
y ou
pleasure" (James 4:3).
Thus, if a person prays merely to
"get" something selfishly for him–
self, his prayer will not be heard!
Another key to unanswered
prayer is found in a parable told by
Jesus. "Two men went to the
Temple to pray," He related. "One
was a proud, self-righteous Pharisee,
and the other a cheating tax collec–
tor. The proud Pharisee 'prayed'
this prayer: 'Thank God, 1 am not a
sinner like everyone else, especially
like that tax collector over there!
For 1 never cheat, 1 don' t commit
adultery, 1 go without food twice a
week, and 1 give to God a tenth of
everything 1 earn.'
"But the corrupt tax collector
stood at a distance and dared not
even lift bis eyes to heaven as he
prayed, but beat upon bis chest in
sorrow, exclaiming, 'God be merci–
ful to me, a sinner.' I tell you, this
sinner, not the Pharisee, returned
home forgiven! For the proud shall
PLAIN TRUTH Moren 1973