2 Samuel chapter 12, you're reading from verses 15 through 23. The Nathan departed to his house and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David and it became ill. David therefore pleaded with God for the child and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. So the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from the ground, but he would not. 38. Nor did he eat food with them. 39. Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. 40. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. 41. For they said, Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. 42. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm. 43. When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. 44. Therefore David said to his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, he is dead. So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. And he went to his own house. And when he requested, they set food before him and he ate. Then his servant said to him, what is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive. But when the child died, you arose and ate food. And he said, while the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. Father God we thank You for Your Word and I pray as we dig into at least one of the themes that is in this passage that You would bless the preaching of Your Word and help us to be encouraged to pursue after You with our whole heart. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Today we're going to be looking at David's unanswered prayer. And I think all of us can relate to him on that issue. We have had times where, if you're anything like me anyway, that you've had quite a few unanswered prayers. Even in this last week I've had several unanswered prayers. And it can get discouraging when you have lots of unanswered prayers. Now I say discouraging not so much because we're not getting what we wanted. That might factor in sometimes but especially because our unbelieving heart has this tendency to latch on to unanswered prayers and to begin to doubt God and wonder if God cares for us. And I think most of us have experienced that even on trivial trivial prayer requests that we've offered up. I have prayed, Lord, please don't let me be late for this meeting. It's an important meeting and this traffic jam has just got to move on. And the Lord has not answered my prayer. I've prayed that God would open the eyes of somebody to understand doctrine. And the Lord has not answered my prayer. This guy seems as dumb as a rock. You know, he just does not understand the doctrine. It could be a totally different situation. But many of us have experienced times where we've said, Lord, this seems like a reasonable request. It seems like it's to your glory. We're claiming your scriptures. And God has not answered our prayers. And my own heart has been tempted from time to time to doubt God's promises and to really doubt that God cares about me at all. Now I banish that out of my mind as soon as it comes, but it does come. And if you're honest with yourself, I think you've had times in your lives where you've wondered, does God care at all? I mean, I've had these doubts, even though God has answered thousands of my prayers, some in very miraculous ways, but that's what Satan loves to do. He loves to tempt us. So I want to look this morning at David's unanswered prayers. Certainly there's a lot of other themes we could have looked at in this passage. But I want to see what are we to make out of these things. And just in summary form let me say for sure we should not question that God loves us. God clearly loved David and He expresses His love for David's second child by Bathsheba in verses 24 through 25. We'll look at that on another Sunday Lord willing. For sure we should not question whether God is at work in our lives. He was definitely at work in David's life and Just glance at verse 25. You'll see the prophet Nathan Sends to David a message, you know indicating God still cares about David. He's still at work in David's life For sure, we should not allow these unanswered prayers to dampen our faith or our enthusiasm for the Lord. And I think David was a wonderful role model on that point as well. In fact, when it comes to faith, I think unanswered prayers sometimes strengthen our faith. They cause us to grow in faith. John Captain said, Faith is not proven true by answered prayer but by unanswered prayer that does not make us waver or give up on God. So this morning I want you to take heart. If you like David have had unanswered prayers, verse 20 and 23 and the Psalms that David wrote during this period of time, show that David continued to worship and to trust God even when his prayer was not answered. So let's dig into the text a little bit and we're actually this morning going to go quite a bit beyond this text because it's so important. I want to fill in some of the gaps that are not here. I don't usually do this but let's start first of all with some reasons why God does not answer our prayers. In this chapter we see at least two, there's hints of other reasons as well, but at least two reasons why God did not answer David's prayer. And we're going to read verses 13 through 14. So David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. And before I apply these verses, let me just point out that the death he is talking about is not a capital punishment at the hands of men. We've already seen that there was no possibility of bringing capital punishment against David because there were not two witnesses who were unimplicated in the same a crime who could cast the first stone. Okay, and that was something as just limitations that God put upon sinful governments as some of the checks and balances he put in place. It's one of the reasons why Cain could not be put to death. Now God could have put him to death and we're gonna look at that in a bit, but Cain did not have witnesses who could have done that. Even with Achan who confessed his sin, Joshua still did not put him to death until he sent people to investigate to see whether that is true. I mean, you've probably known of people historically who are suicidal and have confessed to things that they have not done. And so one of the checks and balances in the scripture is that there has to be two witnesses who are unimplicated in the crime and they have to cast the first stone. So David was not in danger of capital punishment. So what death was David in danger of receiving? Well, I'm convinced that he was talking about the disease and the death that God brings to believers when they are in rebellion against His Word. And there are a lot of scriptures that talk about that. You're probably the most familiar with 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul says that there were many people in Corinth who were weak who had sickness and some who had even died because they had taken the Lord's table while they were in rebellion against sin. A lot of people in America just think, that's back in those days. God doesn't do that anymore. God is nothing but love. And I am convinced that there are many diseases that are in the church of Jesus Christ that are a direct result of unrepented sin. And I've told you stories of miraculous deaths that God has brought. 1 John 5, 16 through 17 speaks of sins that can result in a believer's physical death. So I believe David was in danger of imminent providential death, death at God's hands because he had not yet repented. So even though he got off the hook of capital punishment, he was not until he repented off the hook of providential death. But in verse 13, God promises to lessen David's discipline. He says he would not die. But God did not completely remove all of the discipline. When we read Psalm 38 last week, we saw that David had excruciating pain from a venereal disease that he had contracted. And the baby may have died from the same disease. We aren't told what disease the baby had. So part of the discipline was the disease and part of the discipline was the baby's death. Now we're going to be seeing in a moment it was perfectly appropriate for David to be pleading for mercy, pleading for God to lessen this discipline. But the fact that the baby died indicates that it was God's decision not to do so. 14. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die. And I think we looked at that sufficiently last week. But it illustrates that discipline can be one of the reasons for unanswered prayer. And people think, that didn't really make sense. Why would God forgive if He's going to discipline somebody? Surely forgiveness means you're going to remove the discipline. Just think of discipline as discipleship. It's a part of God's training in our lives. And in English, the root for both words is really the same. But repentance often lowers the amount of discipline for our children but does not necessarily remove discipline completely. Let me read you a scripture along those lines. Psalm 99 verse 8 says, You answered them, O Lord our God. You were to them God who forgives, though you took vengeance on their deeds. So God forgave but he brought discipline. The two can go hand in hand. Now verse 14 also highlights a second reason for unanswered prayer. And in this case, it was for the sake of others so that they would not blaspheme. We looked at that last week and we saw that God did not want David to get away without any consequences for his sins. And people think, oh, God just sweeps in under the carpet. There's no problems if you sin. In fact, I'll ask for forgiveness before I sin, just to make it more convenient. Now, God doesn't want us thinking like that at all. And we saw last week that Psalm 38 describes the horrible, horrible disease in gory detail. But let me quickly give a bunch of other reasons why we could have unanswered prayers. And these other scriptures show us not because God doesn't care about us. In fact, it's precisely because he loves us, uh, that he, that he does this first one. Psalm 68, 66 verse 18 says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. major ongoing sin that is unrepentant of will close off an individual, a family, a church, and even a nation from having their prayers answered. And if you look in 1 Samuel chapter 8 sometime, you'll see that there's a verse in there that says, When a nation becomes rebellious, does not repent of its sins, God brings tyrants and bad rules and bad policies into place. And even when the people cry out to God and say, could you please remove this from me? God's not going to answer their prayers. And I really think America is in this state. We sing all over this nation, God bless America. And that hymn, that song, right? But I think we need to be accompanying that with with prayers of repentance on behalf of our nation. Because apart from that, that former prayer will not be answered. Another reason is if prayer is impossible to answer in the positive. If you've already conceived a baby girl, it's not going to do any good to be praying for a baby boy, right? The the baby's gonna be what it's gonna be. You're not gonna change anything once that's already happened. And by the way, just as a side note, I would strongly encourage you to be praying for your children long before they are conceived. Pray for their health and their salvation and God's ministry in their lives. We prayed for our children before they were conceived, while they're being conceived, after they're conceived. I mean, we need God's blessing in our lives in that regard. But there are many prayers that are just not possible for God to answer because they're contrary to His design for creation. Sir Eric Roll told about a youngster that was fervently praying that God would make Tokyo the capital of France. And he thought, man, that's rather odd. But it turns out that he had missed that question on his geography exam. And can you imagine the trouble we'd be in? The topsy-turvy world we would have if God answered yes to all of our whimsical prayer requests. A third reason for unanswered prayer is that God foresees problems that might come by saying yes. Now we don't know if that was the case with this baby, whether things would have turned out really bad if God had spared that baby's life. But we do know that there are a lot of scriptures that indicate God sometimes gives a no. He gives a request denied because it would otherwise be harmful. And you can think of the picture in your outline of the baby reaching for that you know, electrical outlet. And the parents say, No, don't touch. Or a baby's touching a hot stove or wanting to touch a hot stove. And that baby just thinks, You're such a killjoy. You parents don't understand. You're just taking away all fun from my life. And it's really that difference between a young toddler's understanding and your understanding that a child needs to grow into before he's going to understand, Wow, that no was a blessing. Thank you so much, parents, for telling me no. And the difference between our understanding and God's understanding is far, far greater. And we just need to by faith say, okay, Lord, I don't understand it, but I know your no is a great blessing in my life. He has his reasons for doing it. In his wonderful book on prayer, B.M. Palmer told the story of a woman who had spent the entire summer away from her children. and she was extremely anxious to get back home. But when she went to get onto the ship, They must have overbooked or something because all of the rooms were sold out and she couldn't get on there. And she wept bitterly because she knew it was going to be another two weeks before any room on any ship would be opened up. But sometime later when she discovered that the ship she would have been on sunk, all of a sudden she realized, what a blessing. Thank you, Lord, for not answering my prayer to be able to get onto that boat. A loving God is in control and David knew that. A fourth reason for unanswered prayer is that God foresees blessings that will result by not giving us our request. Elijah begged God, please God let me die. I'm ready to die. And God refused that request because he had something special in mind and spectacular in mind for Elijah's life. Moses begged God, please let somebody else lead Israel out of Egypt. I don't want to do it. He came up with all kinds of excuses and he's begging God, please, I don't want to lead Israel. God would not answer Moses' request in the positive because he had spectacular things in mind for Moses and unbelievable blessings flowed because of God's no. No, I'm not going to give you what you have asked for. If David could have seen the joy in this baby's eyes in paradise after it had gone through that painful sickness, he would have recognized, okay, yes, there is a sense in which God had something far, far better for this baby. David had prayed for healing. God gave that baby permanent healing. Let me tell you a story I got from a local town newspaper in Georgia. Tom Benefield told a story about his grandpa on his mother's side. He was a carpenter back during the Great Depression. And he was struggling to make a go of things. But he loved the Lord and he sought to serve and minister to poor people in America. But they also had this program where they were helping an orphanage in China. And the church had gotten together this huge long list of things that they were going to send to the orphanage because it was in desperate need. And as a part of his work, he was assigned the task of building these shipping crates out of wood. And after he'd gotten everything packed, crated up, sealed, and sent off, he walked back to his car and went to pull the glasses out so that he could drive home, and his glasses were not in his pocket. And he looked all over the place. He couldn't find them. He knew he had put his glasses on that morning to come because he couldn't really drive without him. So he retraced his steps. He's looking everywhere and praying to the Lord, Lord, please help me find my glasses. So then he's replaying in his mind, what did I go through? And as he's replaying in his mind, it suddenly dawns on him when he leaned over, The the crates when he was packing them it probably slipped out of his pockets and ended up in a crate somewhere. So he had just bought those for 20 bucks that morning. Back in the Great Depression, 20 bucks was a lot of money. And he was just sick about this because he didn't have a lot of discretionary money. So with a sickening feeling in his stomach, he realized, OK, those glasses are headed off to China. God had not answered his prayer to help him find his glasses. He started complaining bitterly to the Lord. Lord, it's not fair. I've been very faithful in giving of my time and money to Your work and now this. But it was too late. Several months later the director of the orphanage was on furlough in America and he was visiting the various supporting churches. And when he came to Tom's grandpa's church, the missionary began by thanking the people for their faithfulness and supporting the orphanage. And let me read you the next part of his report to the congregation, as told by Tom. But most of all, I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, the communists had swept through the orphanage, destroying everything. Including my glasses. I was desperate even if I had money there was simply no way of replacing those glasses Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day So my co-workers and I were much in prayer about this then your crates arrived when my staff removed the covers They found a pair of glasses They found a pair of glasses lying on top. Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom made just for me. I want to thank you for being a part of that. The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses, but the missionary surely must have confused their church with another, they thought. There were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas. But sitting quietly in the back, But sitting quietly in the back with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized the master carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way. And you know what? If you could see the future the way God can see the future, I bet there's all kinds of unanswered prayers that you have offered up where you'd say, Yes, Lord, I agree. I'm rejoicing that you have not answered that prayer as I wanted you to answer it. And David actually did that in verse 20. 2 Samuel 12 verse 20. So David arose from the ground, washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. And what's remarkable about that is David worshiped even though he did not yet know what God's plan for the future was in terms of his unanswered prayer. By faith, and it takes faith to do that, by faith, he got up, he cleaned himself up, he put on a new pair of clothes, he went to worship and adore the God who controls all things and who loved him. Now another reason for God's no answers is that a yes may really not be in our own best interests. Maybe you've asked for more money or you've asked for a better position at your job or some other thing and God knows if he gives that to you it's going to be a stumbling block. It's not going to be in your own best interest. Maybe there's dangers that are associated with the answer to that. Before my mother got married, she was traveling home from missionary medical school to Detroit to spend Christmas with her parents. And at the connection, they were waiting on the plane, waiting, waiting. Finally, they made everybody disboard from the plane because of icing on the wings. So she traded her ticket in quickly to get a train ride. And as she's leaving, she's hearing that they've fixed the icing issue and everybody got back on board and she figured, well, I'm just going to go ahead and continue on with the train. Well, at exactly the same time, My dad who had no eyes for my mom at that point in his life was back at the missionary medical training school and he suddenly had God so impressed upon his soul that he needed to pray for the safety of this woman that he got on his knees And he just intensely prayed. He said, I don't know what the danger is, Lord, but I pray that you would give this woman safety. And he continued to pray until God gave him a release. and felt that his prayer was answered. Well, it was later discovered that this plane got iced up as it was taking off. It crashed and everybody died. And so there was a situation where if God had said yes to my mother's desires, she'd be dead. I wouldn't be here. And it made my dad, just as a side note, realize, wow, if God wants me praying protection for this woman, maybe he's got something in mind for me. Maybe he wants me to marry her. And he did, of course. And so he had other purposes there as well. But God has His purposes for our unanswered prayers. When Amy Carmichael was a child, she used to pray fervently, Lord, give me blue eyes. And God never answered her prayers. She retained her brown eyes. And later when she was in India, she just realized those brown eyes were perfectly crafted by God because it helped me to blend in with the population in India And they would have been intimidated by the blue eyes. He would have looked so different. But God knows what he was doing. Garth Brooks in a song, Unanswered Prayers. where he calls pleading with God, pleading with God, Lord please help me to marry, you know, is his sweetheart in high school. And God did not answer that prayer and looking back on that years later he realized what a horrible, horrible choice that would have been. It would not have been a life partner that he needed. And so when a loving God says no to David, David gets up, he washes himself, he worships, he trusts the God who loves him. Sixth, there are times when saying yes to our prayers would be very bad for other people. There was a father who realized that his daughter was stringing along three fellows. And for their sakes, he had to say no to her desires. He did not want her hurting these young men's hearts. And here's what clued him in to her insensitivity to the fact she was stringing them along. He found this note pinned on the bulletin board beside the family phone. Daddy, I'm going to wash my hair. If Tom calls, tell him to call at 8. If Herb calls and Tom doesn't, tell Herb to call at 8, but if they both call, tell Herb to call at 8.15 or 8.30. If Timmy calls and Tom and Herb don't, tell Timmy to call at 8, but if they both call, Tom and Herb, Or one calls, tell Timmy to call at 830 or 840, Tina. And I sometimes wonder, do our prayers sound as confusing and mixed up to God, you know? We want to have our cake and eat it too. So if it's not in the best interest of others, God will sometimes say, no, we are not praying according to God's will. Seventh, we may simply not need what we are asking for. We just don't need it. A father wrote back to his son in college and said, I'm enclosing $10 as you requested in your letter. Incidentally, $10 is spelled with one zero, not two. God sometimes does that with us, doesn't he? He gives us our request, but not really the way we prayed it. He gives us what we need, not necessarily what we desire. And here's what Philippians says. My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. All of our need, not necessarily all of our desires. Now God has many, many times given me more, far more than I have asked for. So this is not an infallible reason, but it is a reason that God sometimes gives. Eighth, God may have something better in store for us. Mary and Martha asked Jesus to heal Lazarus, and they were bitterly disappointed when he failed to do so. But after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, they could see that his answer was far better, far more glorious than what they had asked for, and they certainly were not going to complain about it. A ninth reason for unanswered prayers is that our prayers may be at cross purposes to other people's prayers. I mean, think about it. If people on both sides of a war are praying that their side will win, you know, he's only going to be able to answer one side's prayers. You know, same goes if I'm praying that one team will win and Scott Polsky's praying that a different team will win, you know, only one of us can have that prayer answered, right? Probably Scott's gonna get his prayer answered because he's much more interested in the game than I am, but... Okay, the... 10th one, praying for things already finished. David at least knew this much and he quit praying the moment God's providence made it very clear what his answer was going to be. There's no point, as I mentioned earlier, in praying for a baby boy if your wife is already pregnant. It's going to be what it's going to be. The 11th reason is illustrated in the man born blind. In John 9 verse 3 Jesus said, How many times had His parents and His brothers and sisters and He Himself prayed for healing? Lord, You could heal me. Please bring Your healing. And yet God had left all those prayer requests unanswered until Jesus prayed and He answered Jesus' prayer. Was it because they didn't know how to pray? They never have any answered prayers? No, that's not the reason at all. The reason God did not answer their previous request for healing was that a no brought more glory to Jesus. And I think that's exactly what the situation was with Johnny Erickson Tada. God's no to prayers for healing resulted in incredible glory being brought to God through her books and through her ministry which is called Johnny and Friends. And so I think that's a very important reason. And it's actually a good example for number 12 as well because God's no opened up a lifetime of challenge and opportunity for her. God's no to Moses opened up 40 years of adventure and digging deeper into getting to know God. 13 is that there are times God won't answer our prayers because He wants us to fill the need ourselves. 1 John 3 basically says in effect, hey, don't pawn off your responsibilities on somebody else when I've given you the finances and I've brought the poor person to you. Here's what he says. But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? James 2.16 says that when your prayer is be filled, be clothed, be warmed, and you don't do anything about it, it's a useless prayer when it's in your power to be able to do so. And many of our prayers are prayers we could easily answer ourselves. We pray that politicians would change And we never do anything about it. We never write letters. We never contact them. And it's so easy to be involved in that way. Just talk to Sarah, you know, with Write Your National, Write Your Congressman campaign. There's ways in which we can be a part of the answer. We pray that a missionary would have funds and we don't give to him. Spurgeon tells the story of how he met with his large board and was going to have them pray for a really pressing need that had come up. And just before they prayed, he said, wait a minute, before you begin this prayer meeting, there's something I'd like to do. He took out a sheet of paper and wrote CH Spurgeon gives 50 pounds and he passed it around for the others to fill in just to see what amount of money they could fill in. By the time the paper came back around to him, they had a praise meeting instead of a prayer meeting because the fund had completely been met just by the commitments from the people on that board. And the Lord has many times stopped me from praying and just convicted me, Phil, you just go do it. It's in your power to do it. So don't be like spiritual congressmen who always want to solve people's problems with other people's money and other people's efforts. God has good reason to say no to such a prayer. Number 14, I think should be obvious. James 4 verse 3 says, you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures or your lusts. And so if your request is sinful, your motives are sinful, obviously God's not interested in answering. Or sixth, it may be bad timing. David wanted so badly to build a temple for God and God says no David It's going to be your son Solomon who's going to build this house for me and he gave his reasons When Lazarus got sick the sisters sent to Jesus and said you got to get here. It's urgent you got to get here right away and Jesus didn't come quickly and He waited and He let Lazarus die because timing was essential for the glory of God. The last reason given in your outlines is that a yes answer may not be possible in God's plans. Now, obviously, in the abstract, Scripture says all things are possible for God. But if you read that verse in context, he's indicating all things are possible that are consistent with God's nature and consistent with God's plan. Scripture says God cannot deny himself, so he's never going to go against his plan. And it says God is impossible for God to lie. It's impossible for him to sin. So nothing can go against his nature. And so Jesus prays, O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as you will. He said, if it is possible. I am sure if there was any way that we could have been saved without Jesus having to go to the cross, the Father would have fulfilled that request. And you can think of many examples where God has to deny someone's prayer as being impossible. You know, there's two men who are praying that they will be able to marry Sally. Well, God's only going to be able to... maybe none, neither of them. But it could be a perfectly appropriate, a perfectly godly prayer And yet only one of those men's prayers can be answered. And so keep in mind that within God's will there are good prayers that cannot be answered. But always God has His reasons. It isn't arbitrary. His plan is perfect. So hopefully just going through those reasons has sparked a little bit of encouragement in you that God's not arbitrary, you know, and He's always got reasons that are for your good and for His glory when your prayers are answered. But while it's nice to know that He has His reasons for saying no, it's also helpful to know how He says no. And actually, maybe it's not even a no. Maybe it's a wait. God wants you to persevere in prayer, and He's just having you to wait. But I want to give you five ways in which God says no, so that you'll be able to recognize them. The first way God does it is by making a yes providentially impossible. And that was certainly the case with David here. Once the child had died, there was no point in continuing to pray. Now, obviously, it's not an absolute principle because there have been people in history who have been raised from the dead. But I think generally speaking, you realize, OK, providentially, God is no longer... There's no point in praying because God has answered no very specifically here. It won't do much good to keep praying that a different congressman will win the election after somebody else has gotten into office. Maybe you could change your prayer and say, eh, shorten his term, Lord. You could do something like that, maybe. But he's already elected. If you've been praying that so-and-so will marry you and they marry somebody else, okay, it's a pretty clear answer. So providence, that's the first way. Another way God says no is through the Bible. And you might think that this was the situation with David here because Nathan was a prophet. He's bringing inspired words from God that this baby will surely die. And I'll deal with that in a little bit because judgments are different. They're always conditional, prophecies of judgment. We'll get to that in a bit. But I'm talking about something clearly laid out as a moral principle in the Bible. Let's take divorce as an example. A woman divorces a man and it's a sinful divorce, not a biblical one, and he is praying, Lord, bring her to repentance and please restore our marriage. That is a perfectly appropriate prayer to make. Even after a divorce has happened, there is no problem with getting remarried to that person again. But once that woman marries another man, even if that second man dies, She cannot come back to the first husband. And you'll find that in Deuteronomy 24, 1-4. You'll find it in Jeremiah 3, verses 1-2. God says it's an abomination. The whole land is cursed when that kind of thing happens. And by the way, it's one of the areas that I totally, totally, totally disagree with Bill Gothard on, at least in his earlier writings. I don't know if he's changed his mind recently, but he mandates that people divorce the second spouse and come back to the first. And the Bible says, no, you cannot do that. Now of course there are a lot of times when a no is a no right from the beginning. Some of the things that pastors pray for in this city should be obvious to them. They should not be praying for. God's already given a no. I've heard pastors in this city pray for more not welfare. What's it called where you get grants from the government and stuff? In fact, one pastor was praying that his church would get a grant from the government. I was just blown away. It's just very frustrating to me when I see stuff like that. But if you see pastors who are praying when God's already said don't pray about that, you know there is probably a lot of Christians who are praying just because they're ignorant of the scriptures. And So somebody prays, Lord, please bless the preaching of this lady. And God says, No, this lady should not be preaching. I'm not going to bless that preaching. Or they say, Well, I know my son is in rebellion, but Lord, please bless him anyway. And God says, No, I've already said in my word, I'm not going to bless that kind of prayer. So we need to fill our minds with the Word of God so that we can understand before we even start praying, okay, that's not even an appropriate prayer to be making. We need to know God's no's ahead of time. Another way that God says no is through guidance. God showed Paul to stop praying. He didn't want him praying anymore, that prayer request. I think an interesting example of this though is in the last verses of the book of 1 John where John tells us that there is sin not leading to death and there is sin that leads to death. And he says, if a brother commits a sin that is leading to death, I don't want you praying for him anymore. Don't even pray that he'll be healed. Stop praying for him." You wonder, well, how do I know if a brother is sinning a sin unto death? How do I know I shouldn't stop praying for anything? And I would say that it's through guidance, God's guidance. I've had times where God has made it crystal, crystal clear that I need to stop praying a given prayer request and I quit. I quit praying about that. So guidance can be a factor. Another way in which God says no is by removing the desire from our hearts as we mature. What was once a compellingly urgent desire in our hearts is suddenly unimportant to us. And I've seen God do this over and over again in people's lives. When our desires become conformed to God's desires, then our prayers are more and more being conformed to the Holy Spirit's prayers as He is interceding within us. And sanctification frequently takes care of that question why. Another way in which God says no is that He gives us our heart's desire in a totally different way than we had anticipated. I don't think any one of you would complain if you had been praying for a red $2,000 Chevy Caprice and God gives you, you know, a newer $10,000 blue Honda or something like that. It's got 80,000 less miles. And He just gives it to you. I mean, that's way above beyond what I've asked for, okay? So that would be a no that you say, okay, great. That's awesome, Lord. I'll take this Honda over that Chevy Caprice. But let me end quickly with three more lessons. And the first is, don't be fatalistic. You might think that verse 14 is as clear a no as you could get. After all, doesn't Nathan say, the child also who is born to you shall surely die? Wasn't David living in rebellion to God's declaration by fasting and praying for seven days? And I don't think so. God didn't command him not to pray. Now, if God had said, and I don't even want you praying about it, then yes, he would have been in disobedience to God. But I think David was actually being a role model for us both in this passage and in the Psalms that he wrote during this period. He was a model of how to avoid fatalism. He was being as aggressive in his prayers as God was allowing him to be. And let me explain a little bit on this. I have met Christians who no longer pray that God would turn America around because they say it's too late on the slippery slope downhill in Romans chapter 1. They believe God has said no before they even start praying. But I want you to notice, and let's quickly read through verses 15 through 17. Then Nathan departed to his house, and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became very ill. David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. So the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. Why did David pray so earnestly for this child? Hadn't God already made his no quite clear? Wasn't this just a waste of energy? Well, think about Nineveh. Jonah was sent to Nineveh with an inspired message, you're going to be destroyed in 40 days. And God did not destroy Nineveh. Some people say, wow, is that a failed prophecy? Is God's word not inerrant? No. What the situation is, is that all prophecies of judgments are conditional. And Jonah understood this. That's why he didn't want to go to Nineveh. He knew this is God's general pattern, that He'll bring a judgment, and as soon as people repent, He will back away from that judgment. And he wanted Nineveh destroyed. That's why he didn't want to go there. He knew this is the general way that God works. Here's a scripture you can write down. Jeremiah 18 says that all God's prophecy prophecies of judgment are conditional. He says the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up to pull down and to destroy it. If that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. So David knows it's never wrong to pray for mercy. He knows the child is not dead yet, so he perseveres in prayer. And I think we can take our cue from David and not be fatalistic. As long as you can claim the scriptures as the basis for your prayer, keep praying till a yes either becomes impossible Or God through guidance clearly leads you to stop praying. Now the next lesson is that once it becomes impossible have an attitude of submission to God like David did. Verses 18 through 23 show David's ability to turn it all over to God once the final decision has been made and to not grow bitter. And we've got to learn how to relinquish our heart's desires and not stubbornly hold on to them when God says that's the final answer. No. beginning to read at verse 18. Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died, and the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, indeed, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm. When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. David had such a confidence that God's knows are always the best that he was able to worship and adore God in faith even though his heart was still hurting. You think he felt like worshipping? I doubt it. I doubt it very much. I doubt that he felt like worshipping but by faith he did what was right. He took the actions of faith against all feelings. Then he went to his own house and when he requested they set food before him and he ate. Then his servant said to him, What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food. So he said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. So here's the question. Are you able to relinquish your desires and say, Lord, I give them as a gift to you. I'm no longer going to hold this in my heart now that you have said no. And some people say, I can't do that. It would be hypocritical. I don't feel like doing that. I can't go against my feeling. Yes, you can. Christian life is not primarily about feelings. It's primarily about obedience, the obedience of faith. And if you just think of it this way with this illustration, Think of your life like a train where the engine is your mind and your spirit and the coal car where you're shoveling in the coal to keep that engine going is your will and the caboose is the feelings. If the first two on that train are headed in the right direction, eventually your feelings are going to come into line. And what I just encourage you to do is buy faith, submit to God, worship Him and adore Him. Do it even if you do not feel like it and you will find your feelings miraculously changing. You will find healing start to develop when you do that. The last lesson that I draw from this whole subject is that we need to learn to be led by the Spirit in our prayer life. And I should point out that God is gracious. Even when we are praying dumb prayers, you know, even when we're praying wrongly, the Spirit of God still is interceding from within us, perfecting our prayers and saying, I know his needs. I know his heart's desires. I know his struggles. And so I'm going to pray to the Father what really needs to be prayed. And it's really so cool. Let me read from Romans 8. Paul said, likewise the spirit also helps in our weaknesses for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. So he's admitting even for himself that there are times we simply do not pray right. But that's an opportunity to trust the spirit to lead and I think that's what's going on when he calls us in the scripture to pray in the spirit. Anyway he goes on in Romans 8, but the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. So even during those prayers where we're asking something out of God's will, the Spirit knows our hearts, our needs, and He intercedes to the Father from within us in ways that will be working together for our good and for His glory. And here's the point. If you do not offer up the prayers because you're afraid, hey, I might be praying contrary to God's will, then there is no opportunity for the Spirit to be interceding through our prayers and perfecting our prayers. It's much better to risk praying wrongly and to have the Spirit aiding you in your prayers than to have no prayers whatsoever. So to me 2 Samuel 12 is just a marvelous, it's a rich passage on the meaning and the method of prayer. And by the way, prayer is the major theme this whole year. You're probably going to get more sermons on prayer before the year is out, maybe even a conference on prayer. But we really want in every way we can to stir this congregation up to prayer. But let me end by just reading two quotes. The first is from C.J. Mahaney's comments on Mark 10. He said, I want to celebrate unanswered prayer. I want to thank God for all the prayers I have prayed sinfully motivated that the Savior hasn't answered. I want to thank God that He is sovereign, not sentimental. I want to thank God for all the times when I have approached the Savior demanding that He do for me whatever I ask, that the Savior's response was not simply, you don't know what you're asking, but that He withheld an answer to that prayer. I am grateful to God for unanswered prayers. The second quote is a poem written by a Confederate soldier. He titled it, The Blessing of Unanswered Prayer. I asked God for strength that I might achieve. I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy. I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men. I was given, excuse me, I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life. I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for, but got everything I had hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all people most richly blessed." And basically he is saying there is a sense in which even our unanswered prayers are answered. And they are answered well. They are answered very well by a loving God. who cares about us, knows about us, and is working all things together for our good. He's not just ignoring you. And how we respond to those situations will impact whether we're moving forward spiritually or whether we're moving backwards. So if you have been discouraged by unanswered prayers, I urge you to do like David did. Wash yourself Get up, go on and worship. Adore the God who loves you and cares for you. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for the example of David, even in his weaknesses and in his sins and how he dealt with those sins. He is an example to us. And I pray, Father, that you would help us week by week to grow in our ability to press deeper into you. Even unanswered prayers, may we find them a great privilege to have been able to offer them up knowing that your Holy Spirit is working within us giving exactly the prayers that are needed on our behalf. And so may we, with that reminder, never cease from praying, obeying Paul's admonition to pray without ceasing. Bless this, your congregation, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.