Unanswered prayer is one of the dilemmas of Christian life. On the one hand Jesus says, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” On the other hand examples abound in both scripture and experience where prayer is not always answered, at least not in the way we expect.
I don’t have the full answer to unanswered prayer. But I do know that sometimes the answers we want and the answers we need are two different things.
Think of it this way.
Suppose your 16-year old son comes to you and says he needs reliable transportation to get himself back and forth to school. He just turned 16 yesterday, and today he took his driving test and walked away with a new laminated card with a government issued mug shot.
His idea of “reliable transportation” of course is something similar to a shiny late model V-8 Camaro.
I won’t presume to tell you what you should do in this hypothetical case, but I think you will agree that while Junior’s basic reliable transportation needs will more than be fulfilled with such a vehicle, this mode of transportation might not be the best choice for a young man in this position. Maybe a serviceable used car with 4 cylinders and few harmless dents would work just as well, or maybe you decide that until Junior proves he’s responsible, a thing called a school bus can get him where he needs to go until circumstances allow him to afford part of the cost of ownership.
We adults can be a lot like that 16-year old. We might express a very real need or concern in prayer and then presume to tell God how to answer that prayer. Put differently, sometimes we want to tell God how to do his job, and then when he answers in a different way than we want, we assume that our prayers go unanswered.
I know this explanation is not the complete answer to unanswered prayer, but I do know that it is part of the answer. Sometimes our Father might look at us as though we are that 16-year old and just rolls his eyes. So if things turn out differently than what we had hoped, it’s time to pray again. Only this time, instead of saying, “My will be done”, say “Thy will be done.”
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Biblical Topics from RAD Writings
My friend Roger Day from Springfield has a new website that houses some well-researched and well-written articles on various Biblical topics. Give it a look. Good stuff to share.
Check it out here: RAD Writings
Check it out here: RAD Writings
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The King of the South
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
(Dan 11:40 KJV)
Recent events in the Muslim world have led prophecy pundits to speculate whether we’re seeing Daniel 11 unfold before us. Surely that’s an understandable perspective. Tension between the western nations and the Islamic nations has been simmering for 1400 years, but never before has there been a time where the Islamic world had access to weapons and economic clout that could bring on a worldwide conflagration. The King of the South does appear to be pushing, and it’s normal to wonder what it all means.
In fact, I have my own ideas on what all this might mean. But I would offer a word of caution. If you are inclined to interpret today’s news in light of Bible prophecy, be very careful about the specifics, and certainly don’t get dogmatic about them. Not too many years ago some prophecy buffs were identifying Saddam Hussein as a key figure in end time events, and we know how that one turned out.
Theory upon theory is being floated today, everything from an alliance between the Vatican and Islam to speculation on the 12th Imam, and how all of these things might bring about end time events. Some of these ideas will prove to be wrong, some might prove to be right. The caution is not to get locked into any one prophetic interpretation, but to watch the play unfold before us with our Bibles and minds open. As for me, I’m not sharing my theories just yet, except to note that the tug of war between the King of the South and the King of the North has been going on since the days of Alexander the Great, and Islam has been trying to dominate Europe since the 700s.
And remember too that the Bible doesn’t have much good to say about either side.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Congress Shall Make No Law ...
The house of representatives...can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as the great mass of society. This has always been deemed one of the strongest bonds by which human policy can connect the rulers and the people together. It creates between them that communion of interest, and sympathy of sentiments, of which few governments have furnished examples; but without which every government degenerates into tyranny.
James Madison, Federalist No. 57, February 19, 1788
We can presume that Madison’s concept as expressed in Federalist No. 57 was a view that most of the Founding Fathers espoused. But none of them invented this noble idea. Its roots are embedded in a great book of law that has been handed down for thousands of reason, although rarely taken seriously as a law that applies to our modern world.
In this ancient book of law, the king was instructed to “write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left.” (Deut. 17:18-20 NIV)
In our historical context we think of the king as being the absolute ruler, the one who makes the rules and by extension one who can exclude himself from the rules he imposes on others. Israel was unique because any monarchy that might arise (notwithstanding that the scriptures sternly warned the nation against the dangers of monarchy) was to be a limited monarchy, limited by the rule of law. Indeed, even in our own day -- even in a nation founded on the rule of law as opposed to the rule of lawmakers -- our duly elected officials routinely exempt themselves from the burdens they impose on others. As Madison warned, such every such government eventually degenerates into tyranny.
A very minor example: In my state, we have a no-call list. Those of us who have placed ourselves on that list can be assured that we will not be bothered be telemarketers. However, the law does not apply to politicians, whose campaign people can call me even during dinner time any time they want. Why a call from them deserves greater consideration than one from a poor guy trying to earn an honest living is beyond me.
Implicit in both Madison’s comments and in Deuteronomy is the simple concept that no one is above the law, even the king. If European kings, who had access to that book of law, had honored it with more than their lips, Europe would have been saved a history of grief. A real leader does not “consider himself better than his brothers”, but the lures of power make that easy to forget.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
An Involuntary Sabbatical
As job losses mount and incomes drop, I along with many of you have begun to contemplate what might happen if I find myself as a statistic next week. I have chosen to define any such event in my own terms and call it a “Self-funded Involuntary Sabbatical” (SIS). This phrase has a gentler ring than the traditional appellation.
A little time to stand back and reflect is a good thing, and an SIS can provide the opportunity to do just that. What if everyone were to have a chance for a Sabbatical every few years, a time to reconnect with the important things in life? If the scriptures offer any guide, a Sabbatical is supposed to be a blessing, unlike the SISs that so many experience today. The problem lies in the ability to afford it.
In the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) the idea of a Sabbatical is addressed several times, most notably in Leviticus 25. “When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.” (Leviticus 25:2-5 NIV)
The people of those days had the same concerns that we have about such involuntary Sabbaticals. Verse 20: “You may ask, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year [when I’m unemployed] if we do not plant or harvest our crops [and I don’t have a paycheck coming in]?’” The passage contains a two-fold answer, both of which provide good advice even for those of us who might be suffering from an unplanned Sabbatical.
First, verse 6 reminds us that God will provide our needs even if we can’t always see how he will. “Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.” If you’re unemployed, it’s good to remember that if our Father feeds the birds of the air, who neither reap nor sow, then why not us? (Matthew 6:25-34).
The second answer is for those of us who are not on an involuntary Sabbatical just yet. In the modern world we are at a disadvantage when compared to our ancient counterparts. They knew when their Sabbaticals would be and could prepare for them several years in advance. In today’s world, where SISs are unplanned and unwanted, planning has even more urgency. The admonition to plan ahead is just as important now as it was anciently.
Leviticus 25: “I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.” (Verses 21-22 NIV)
The injunction is to put back some of your production from the good years in anticipation of your SIS. If you are blessed with employment, stuff some of your earnings into a low-risk place where you can get to it should the normal exigencies of life happen. Losing your job will still be unpleasant, but it will buy you some time to refocus. It might just be that God can turn your Self-funded Involuntary Sabbatical into a blessed time. If nothing else planning ahead for your SIS will allow you to be a bit more choosy than you might otherwise be when testing the employment market.
Lenny C.
A little time to stand back and reflect is a good thing, and an SIS can provide the opportunity to do just that. What if everyone were to have a chance for a Sabbatical every few years, a time to reconnect with the important things in life? If the scriptures offer any guide, a Sabbatical is supposed to be a blessing, unlike the SISs that so many experience today. The problem lies in the ability to afford it.
In the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) the idea of a Sabbatical is addressed several times, most notably in Leviticus 25. “When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.” (Leviticus 25:2-5 NIV)
The people of those days had the same concerns that we have about such involuntary Sabbaticals. Verse 20: “You may ask, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year [when I’m unemployed] if we do not plant or harvest our crops [and I don’t have a paycheck coming in]?’” The passage contains a two-fold answer, both of which provide good advice even for those of us who might be suffering from an unplanned Sabbatical.
First, verse 6 reminds us that God will provide our needs even if we can’t always see how he will. “Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.” If you’re unemployed, it’s good to remember that if our Father feeds the birds of the air, who neither reap nor sow, then why not us? (Matthew 6:25-34).
The second answer is for those of us who are not on an involuntary Sabbatical just yet. In the modern world we are at a disadvantage when compared to our ancient counterparts. They knew when their Sabbaticals would be and could prepare for them several years in advance. In today’s world, where SISs are unplanned and unwanted, planning has even more urgency. The admonition to plan ahead is just as important now as it was anciently.
Leviticus 25: “I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.” (Verses 21-22 NIV)
The injunction is to put back some of your production from the good years in anticipation of your SIS. If you are blessed with employment, stuff some of your earnings into a low-risk place where you can get to it should the normal exigencies of life happen. Losing your job will still be unpleasant, but it will buy you some time to refocus. It might just be that God can turn your Self-funded Involuntary Sabbatical into a blessed time. If nothing else planning ahead for your SIS will allow you to be a bit more choosy than you might otherwise be when testing the employment market.
Lenny C.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
The Gospel According to Moses
If anyone wants a free pdf copy of my latest book The Gospel According to Moses: The Feast Days of Leviticus 23, please send me an e-mail at:
cacchio@sbcglobal.net
Please include your e-mail address. It is also available in print at Amazon.com
Link: The Gospel According to Moses
cacchio@sbcglobal.net
Please include your e-mail address. It is also available in print at Amazon.com
Link: The Gospel According to Moses
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Evil Words
In his book Deliver Us from Evil Dr. Tom Dooley relates a punishment the Viet Minh, Communist predecessors to the Viet Cong, inflicted upon their countrymen for listening to evil words.
Says Dr. Dooley, “Each of them had a big scar where an ear should have been. I remembered that in the Roman Catholic province of Bao Lac, near the frontier of China, the Communist Viet Minh often would tear an ear partially off with a pincer-like pair of pliers and leave the ear dangling. That was the penalty for the crime of listening to the evil words. The evil words were the words of the Lord’s Prayer.”
Shocked, I hope? Why would anyone take offense at such a simple and loving prayer, even to the point of maiming people?
The Apostle Paul tells us that many do not like to retain God in their knowledge (Romans 1:28), but to take this to the extent of the Viet Minh seems to go beyond a simple rejection of the Creator. Dr. Dooley explains, “How downright treasonable to ask God for bread instead of applying to proper Communist authorities! How criminal to imply that the new People’s Republic was an evil from which one needed deliverance! A mutilated ear would remind such scoundrels of the necessity of re-education.” (Quoted from Dr. Tom Dooley’s Three Great Books, by Thomas A. Dooley, copyright 1956, pp.17-18)
Whether Communist or not, too many movers and shakers of this world want us to look to them for our sustenance and security. In them would reside our retirement and employment security, our food, our shelter, and our clothing. It is to them that we are to look for our protection and support.
Commentator Jonah Goldberg has coined the term “God-State” to describe this approach to ordering society, pointing out that this 20th Century virus has infected most ideologies in almost every corner of the globe. The “God-State” moniker highlights how people tend more and more to look to government for their daily bread, and as Dooley points out, “How downright treasonable to ask God for bread instead of applying to proper Communist [or any other human] authorities!”
In Revelation 13 John describes a beast that he sees rising out of the sea. It is significant that “all the world marveled and followed the beast” (verse 3) and that “they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast?’” And (verse 17), "No one may buy or sell, save he that has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Could there be a more appropriate description of the God-State?
Lenny C.
Says Dr. Dooley, “Each of them had a big scar where an ear should have been. I remembered that in the Roman Catholic province of Bao Lac, near the frontier of China, the Communist Viet Minh often would tear an ear partially off with a pincer-like pair of pliers and leave the ear dangling. That was the penalty for the crime of listening to the evil words. The evil words were the words of the Lord’s Prayer.”
Shocked, I hope? Why would anyone take offense at such a simple and loving prayer, even to the point of maiming people?
The Apostle Paul tells us that many do not like to retain God in their knowledge (Romans 1:28), but to take this to the extent of the Viet Minh seems to go beyond a simple rejection of the Creator. Dr. Dooley explains, “How downright treasonable to ask God for bread instead of applying to proper Communist authorities! How criminal to imply that the new People’s Republic was an evil from which one needed deliverance! A mutilated ear would remind such scoundrels of the necessity of re-education.” (Quoted from Dr. Tom Dooley’s Three Great Books, by Thomas A. Dooley, copyright 1956, pp.17-18)
Whether Communist or not, too many movers and shakers of this world want us to look to them for our sustenance and security. In them would reside our retirement and employment security, our food, our shelter, and our clothing. It is to them that we are to look for our protection and support.
Commentator Jonah Goldberg has coined the term “God-State” to describe this approach to ordering society, pointing out that this 20th Century virus has infected most ideologies in almost every corner of the globe. The “God-State” moniker highlights how people tend more and more to look to government for their daily bread, and as Dooley points out, “How downright treasonable to ask God for bread instead of applying to proper Communist [or any other human] authorities!”
In Revelation 13 John describes a beast that he sees rising out of the sea. It is significant that “all the world marveled and followed the beast” (verse 3) and that “they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast?’” And (verse 17), "No one may buy or sell, save he that has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Could there be a more appropriate description of the God-State?
Lenny C.
Friday, February 11, 2011
On This Day in 1979 ...
Interesting indeed that on February 11, 1979 the Iranian royal regime collapsed, ushering in an Islamic "Republic". On this February 11 another dictator's regime collapsed. We pray that things will turn out better for the Egyptians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution
Saturday, February 5, 2011
An Idea for a Party Game
Here’s a new event for your next church picnic. Instead of three-legged races, egg tosses, and horseshoes, how about the old favorite called “Jumping to Conclusions.”
Anyone, regardless of age, temperament, or I.Q. can play this game. All you need is a few facts, but not too many facts. Those facts that don’t fit the conclusion you jumped to can be completely ignored or (your choice) interpreted away.
Jumping to Conclusions works best when in a crowd because others can add their own excitement to the game by jumping unpredictably to their own conclusions. This not only adds a creative twist to the game, it can also lead to spirited “discussions” that can spin both attitudes and truth into energetic directions.
Doctrinal arguments, personal conflict, hurt feelings! O if I were the devil how I would encourage this game! I would give you just enough facts to feed the imagination and let you run wherever your mental machinations lead.
Anyone, regardless of age, temperament, or I.Q. can play this game. All you need is a few facts, but not too many facts. Those facts that don’t fit the conclusion you jumped to can be completely ignored or (your choice) interpreted away.
Jumping to Conclusions works best when in a crowd because others can add their own excitement to the game by jumping unpredictably to their own conclusions. This not only adds a creative twist to the game, it can also lead to spirited “discussions” that can spin both attitudes and truth into energetic directions.
Doctrinal arguments, personal conflict, hurt feelings! O if I were the devil how I would encourage this game! I would give you just enough facts to feed the imagination and let you run wherever your mental machinations lead.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The Islamic/Left Wing Love Affair
I was going through some old Bible Study notes and found a study guide presented by Rod Handley in December of 2006. Rod is founder and president of Character that Counts (http://www.characterthatcounts.org/). He and several others conduct a Wednesday morning group here in Lee's Summit that I have attended for many years.
I found the following in my own handwriting on the study guide where I was trying to transcribe as fast as I could what Rod was saying. He nails something here.
I found the following in my own handwriting on the study guide where I was trying to transcribe as fast as I could what Rod was saying. He nails something here.
Secularism cannot compete with Islam as a worldview because you can't beat something with nothing. That's why Muslims don't view secularism as a threat. Christianity, however, is a threat, for it is something, and it is something very tangible that answers the longings of the human heart in a way that secularism can't.
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