Burden

At one of our prayer meetings Tony asked us a question: “why is it some of your prayer requests have gone unanswered?” I stay encouraged by focusing on what God is doing, not by what hasn’t happened, but that question often remains: “what about that one?”

Most of us who’ve been Christians for a few years have developed a fairly robust theology of disappointment. We have answers ready for that question, before its asked and before we even begin to pray. We can be a bit like the man at Bethesda (John 5). Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed, and he responded by explaining the reasons why he couldn’t be healed.

Tony did something a bit different though. He didn’t ask us for our excuses, he told us to ask God the question: “Why hasn’t that person been healed yet?”

So I did. The thought that came in response surprised me:

“You haven’t asked.”

Now I was pretty sure that I’d asked several times for this person to be healed, so I had to chew that statement over a little. What occurred to me is that there are ways of asking that are not really asking, just as anyone that has children knows that there are ways of apologising that aren’t really apologising. The crucial difference is the attitude of the heart. It is sometimes necessary to feel the weight of an issue in our hearts before we can truly “ask”.

In the ministry of Jesus we repeatedly see Him moved with compassion, groaning and even weeping before people’s suffering. Missionaries like John “Praying” Hyde spoke of receiving a “burden” for prayer. They would wait before God until they felt moved by the Spirit’s compassion. Only then would they pray.

Let me be clear, I am not saying we need to be emotional in order to pray. The mourners at Jairus’ house were overcome with emotion but they had no faith to overcome sickness. Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead with calm authority.

What I am saying is that it takes time in God’s presence to receive God’s compassion. Cornerstone, I want us to remember the message of the Perfume Factory:

A man goes to work at the perfume factory. He goes home, gets undressed, has a shower and put fresh clothes on. Nevertheless he still smells like the perfume factory because he’s spent so long there.

Church, can we tarry in prayer until our hearts bear the aroma of God’s compassion?