Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - When God Doesn't Answer | New Testament | James 5

Episode Date: February 15, 2023

Will God always answer your prayers? Do you have enough faith? What does God actually promise? In today's episode, Jensen discusses James 5 and what believers are and aren't guaranteed by God. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: James 5

Welcome to 10-minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Have you ever prayed for something to happen and it didn't? Maybe you really wanted a job or a spouse or healing from an illness and you cried out to the Lord and it just seems like he didn't answer. Or maybe he did and the answer was no. See, I'm sure we've all been in that situation. praying and not getting the answer we asked for or not getting an answer at all. It can be disheartening and frustrating. In those times, I've actually had people tell me that I just didn't have enough faith that God would do what I was asking, that I didn't believe enough that he could provide

what I was asking for. And statements like that can make facing silence even harder. Was it my fault? Did I not have enough faith? If I had just believed a little more, would God deliver me? See, those questions and that line of thinking can be incredibly damaging. But it's hard not to let our minds wander there, especially when we read sections of scripture like we will today in James 5.

Let's start reading in verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith

will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain. and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and heaven gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. So, is James agreeing with those people who tell you to have more faith? Elijah had faith and his prayers were answered.

It sounds like James is saying that if you're sick and you get faithful people to pray for you, then you will be healed. And if we just read this section of scripture out of the context of the rest of the Bible, even the rest of this chapter, then we may very well fall into the belief that the amount of faith we do or do not have will affect the outcome of our prayers. See, one thing that we can say is that James is calling all Christians to bring their petitions before the Lord, no matter how crazy they may seem. We are called to pray to God about these things. And when we pray, we're to have faith that we follow a God who can and will answer our prayers.

although as we will see, it may look different than what we originally hoped for. And so, in verse 15, we are told that the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. The question is whether this means that every prayer with faith will cause the sick to be healed, or if this statement could refer to a spiritual saving and a future resurrection that God has long promised his faithful followers. See, we can find a clue in Chapter 5 itself. In the verses just prior to these in Chapter 5, James encourages those who are suffering to have patience.

He writes, Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of a Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard the

steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord and how the Lord is compounded. passionate and merciful. Now, if God promises that if we have enough faith, he will answer our prayers, then why does James here speak to true believers as though they will face suffering? Why tell people to wait patiently, to endure as prophets before them have, to have steadfastness like Job, who suffered greatly? See, James is telling believers to be patient in their grumbling because although the rich oppress them, although their bodies fail them, although they're not. Although they're though it is hard to see the fruit of their labor, the Lord is coming. The Lord has made an ultimate promise to be faithful to his people, and he will not waver on that promise. When we take

scripture as a whole, it is clear that James is speaking of a spiritual healing and raising up in this passage. Can God heal the sick miraculously and answer our petitions immediately? Yes, of course he can. but he will not always do this. At some point, our bodies will wither and die. We know that even those Jesus himself miraculously healed and raised from the dead eventually succumbed to the mortal reality of their bodies. The notion that if we just have enough or more faith, then God will answer our prayers and heal our bodies in this life, completely misses the mark of the gospel. Jesus doesn't promise that our faith will deliver us comfortable lives. God will not always answer prayers the way we want, no matter how much faith we have.

Instead, God will always be faithful to what he has ultimately promised to believers. Our faith in Jesus does not guarantee us unlimited answer to prayers for healing, but it does guarantee us something of far greater value. And we find evidence of what is guaranteed in 2 Corinthians 5 verses 1 through 10. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven not built by human hands. Meanwhile, we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.

For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not. do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed and said with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by this life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who is given us the spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore, we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident. We are confident. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it, for we must all appear

before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. You see, we have a guarantee of life with Christ in a new creation with a new body, fully restored, fully. healed, a life with no suffering, no pain, no tears, that is guaranteed. We have faith that God will hear and be faithful to our prayers because he has already promised deliverance from our earthly pain eternally. As 2 Corinthians tells us, the goal of our mortal life is not to be comfortable, healthy, and wealthy. It says clearly that while we are here, we will groan and be burdened, because we are not at home with Christ. James knew that we would face suffering too, but he also knew

that the Lord is coming. And he is faithful to save and raise up his faithful followers to find complete restoration, living alongside him in a new creation. And so we pray faithfully to a God who hears us, to a God who has already promised us more than we could ever hope for. So when it feels like God isn't hearing you. When it feels like he is saying no, remember, you have already been given a guaranteed, ultimate yes to life with Christ. A life that you were created to live alongside your creator for all of eternity. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus.

Thanks for listening.