Harry Foster
THESE words are taken from Hebrews 11:40 and are doubtless dispensational in that setting, but they apply to all of God's dealings with His people, and not least in the moments of our greatest disappointments. The Scriptures make plain that whenever God says 'No' to His praying people, He sees to it that in the end He has done so in order to provide an even greater blessing.
When we talk of prayer it seems natural to begin with Abraham, God's friend, and it is with something of a shock that we read of the time when God refused to answer him: "And Abraham said unto God, Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!" And God said, "Nay ..." (Genesis 17:18-19). Abraham was not asking that Ishmael might stay alive, for there was no fear that he would die. What he did want God to do was to recognise Ishmael as the true inheriting son; to accept him as the makeshift substitute for a true-born son of Sarah.
This was not a lightly uttered prayer. Abraham was actually on his face before God when he voiced it. At that time Ishmael was the only child he had, the object of his love, and he felt that it could help God's plan if he were made to inherit. Nor was God's answer lightly uttered when He had to say No to His friend. There are some things which God cannot do. He cannot go back on His promises. He cannot accept a human substitute for His divine plans. And He cannot give the easy answers to prayer which would ultimately involve loss and not gain.
Had Ishmael been incorporated into God's covenant people, for ever afterwards the new race would have been a sad testimony to what man has to do when God is powerless. What would have happened when the Lord asked Abraham to offer up his son on Moriah? Ishmael was "a wild ass among men" with "his hand against every man" so instead of harmonious submission to his father and being placed on the altar, there would probably have been a disgraceful scuffle on the holy mountain, with a son far more likely to turn the knife against his old father than meekly to submit, as Isaac did.
No, Abraham did not know what he was asking when he pleaded for Ishmael. Nor do we when we try to force God to accept our ideas and efforts as though they were His own. But although God refused, He is not negative in His intentions. He followed up His emphatic "No", with the "much better thing" of a true son, concerning whom He could later say to Abraham: "Thy only son, whom thou lovest" (Genesis 22:2).
And what a man of prayer was Moses. Yet in one matter God had to say to him: "Speak no more of this matter ... for thou shalt not go over this Jordan" (Deuteronomy 3:26-27). How can we say that Moses received a better thing by having his earnest plea rejected? Well, let us imagine that he had not died as he did. In the land he would have grown old and feeble. Perhaps, like Eli, his eyesight might have failed or worse, like David, he might have become a pitiful old invalid. Instead of the actual image we have of the vigorous leader, he might have come to be known as a poor, worn-out character, shuffling pathetically out of history. Instead of that, "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated". His honour and dignity never deserted him; he was taken away in such full strength that the people felt that they could only go on if Joshua was, in effect, another Moses (Joshua 1:17).
And what shall we say of Moses' share in the glory of the Mount of Transfiguration? And of the honour implied in the heavenly "song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb" (Revelation 15:3). Only that for him, as for all of us, seemingly earthly deprivation makes eternal gain all the greater.
There were good reasons why God should not answer David's agonised pleading over the son of his sinfulness (2 Samuel 12:15-25), but David felt that they could perhaps be set aside in view of God's great grace to him. But the child died after all. So great had been his distress in his seven days' crying to God, that his servants were afraid to tell him of the death, for they could [61/62] not imagine what fresh paroxysm of grief would meet the denial of his prayer. To their astonishment, no such thing happened. David "came into the House of the Lord and worshipped ...". As a spiritual man he behaved as though the Lord had said 'Yes' rather than 'No', finding peace and joy -- as we may do -- by accepting the will of God.
But the story does not end there. It goes on to tell us that the sequel was "some better thing" in the person of the child whom the world called Solomon but whom the Lord called Jedidiah because he was so greatly loved. Even if, as in David's case, human sin has complicated things for God, His refusal to answer our prayer is only because He has even for us "some better thing".
"... and he sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now O Lord, take away my life ..." (1 Kings 19:4). It was a very natural prayer, and there have been times when the best of us have prayed it, but nevertheless it was a silly prayer. Elijah had prayed mighty and noble prayers for God's people and God's honour but this time, we are told, "he requested for himself ...". What mean and unworthy utterances come from us when self-pity spoils our prayers! God did not even say "No" to this prayer: He simply ignored it. We, like the prophet, have reason to be very grateful at times that God ignores some foolish prayers of ours. Yet it would be wrong to imagine that Elijah did not mean every word he said. Only those who have risen to such heights of devotion as he had, and then sunk to such depths of seeming failure as he endured, can understand how he felt when he asked the Lord please to take him out of it all. "It is enough!" Surely it would have been kinder of the Lord to excuse him further heartbreak and let him fade quietly out.
But no! The Lord's servant has to go right on to the end. So Elijah was not granted his request. He had to go on a little longer. He was most graciously cared for by an angel, led on to Horeb and made to hear "the voice of gentle stillness", and in the end he did not die at all, but made a triumphant ascent to glory. And he left behind that faithful Elisha who would have gone on ploughing for the rest of his life if Elijah had died then. So if we want to give up; if we feel that the kindest thing is for the Lord to take us Home, by all means let us pray Elijah's prayer if it gives us any satisfaction to do so; but we need not expect God to agree. He will not answer that prayer, for He has "some better thing".
We need not be surprised to find that such experiences did not terminate with the Old Testament. The New Testament carries on the same story. Take the case of John: "And there come near unto him, James and John ... saying unto him: Master we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we ask of thee" (Mark 10:35). This sounds spiritual enough: "Whatsoever we ask ...". Why surely that was a good prayer! Yet it was a prayer which was never answered. When the Lord enquired further of the two men, He found that they wanted personal pre-eminence -- a place on His right hand and on His left hand in the glory .
Christ asked them if they were willing to pay the price. This is a most important question, for it is no use our praying if we shrink from the cost of the prayer being answered. To their credit they were ready to pay the price, and in fact they both did drink of the cup of suffering for their Lord. Even so, the prayer was not and will not be answered. John himself is the best witness of this.
Late in his life he was given a look into heaven. He received a marvellous vision of the glory that is to be (Revelation 5). He looked on the right hand of the Lamb, and what did he see? No place for James. No place for their rival, Peter. No place for John himself. There was no place for any other, either at the right hand or at the left, for the Lamb was the central figure in that great scene, alone in His great majesty with no place found for any other.
Far from being disappointed, John gives us the impression that he thoroughly agreed with those Living Ones and the Elders and the "ten thousand times ten thousand" in their exultant praises of the unique and all-glorious Lamb in the midst of the throne. Perhaps he wished that his foolish prayer for pre-eminence might be blotted out of the divine record. How stupid and selfish will some of our most pious requests appear when they are seen in the light of eternity! But what did it matter, for now he saw the "better thing" which was the unique and unshared glory of his beloved Lord? We shall not waste any time in [62/63] heaven grieving over our own faulty prayers but be completely taken up with the wonders of surpassing glory in which we have a part.
For John did see someone at the right hand of the Lord Jesus. As we read on in his book of Revelation we find that it culminates with what the psalmist says: "At thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir". She is there because she is the consort of God's king whose "throne is for ever and ever" (See Psalm 45). In John's words: "I saw the holy city ... coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband" (Revelation 21:2). We know that God's redeemed Church is being prepared for eternal bridal union with His reigning Son, and we believe that John will be among that company as, by grace, we ourselves hope to be. So although the Lord Jesus seemed to deny John's request, He only did so because He knew that the Father was going to provide "some better thing".
To be part of the Bride, the Lamb's wife, sharing the throne and the kingdom with Him, to be one of the blessed company of the redeemed in most intimate association with their enthroned Lord, this was a privilege infinitely above the petty throne which John had longed for and been denied. It will doubtless be part of the thrills of eternity to discover how the Lord has not rejected our unworthy prayers but purified and fitted them into His own purposes of grace and glory. And even here on earth we will not complain if some lesser requests of ours seem to be denied when we remember that "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).
For redeemed sinners to have a place among Christ's Bride will indeed be "some better thing". It will be more than that, for it will be the best thing of all. Even now, although the great Day of consummation has not yet come, we are assured that to be with Christ is "very far better" (Philippians 1:23). So if concerning ourselves or concerning some loved one, we have a sense of the Lord having denied us in our praying, let us take heart from these and many other examples of the fact that our Lord gives the very best to those who leave the choice with Him.
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