Miscommunication!

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a friend I recently got to know.  He's from China so I try my best to communicate with him in Mandarin.  If you know me, then you know this is the beginning of a *FAIL* moment!

I got to know this new friend on one of our walkabouts in Marine Parade where we do our community service (and yes, because my friend is not Singaporean and can't vote, you can guess that our community service has nothing to do with the upcoming General Election!).

I was inviting him to join my church small group meeting, and I had cleverly (pat on the back) figured out how to type in Chinese on my handphone.  He quickly replied and said he would be happy to join us, so I passed the message to my wife that we would have to pick him up that evening.  But oddly, a couple of hours later, he sent another message, explaining that he couldn't join us, because he had to return to China the very next morning.  I didn't quite understand why his plans had changed so suddenly, so I expressed regret that we would not be able to give him a proper send-off.  Confusingly, he then responded that we would still be able to meet up.

At this point, I realised that I was out of my depth, so I called my wife and asked her to call him - is he joining us or not?!  With my wife's much better understanding of Mandarin, it turned out that when he said he was returning to China, he didn't mean returning for good!  So we would, after all, be able to meet up again when he returned... as Gru would say, *Light Bulb!!!*

That same evening, one of my friends happened to ask why is it that prayers and prophecy don't always work.  Is it because the person praying or prophesying is a fraud?  Is God a fraud?  When prayers don't work or prophecies don't come true, they can cause people to get disappointed with God.  So perhaps we shouldn't stumble others by praying prayers that might not work?  Perhaps it is better to keep our prayers generic and non-specific?

One aspect of the cell leader's job description is to answer difficult questions on the spot!  And I realised that my earlier miscommunication with my new Chinese friend was God's timely instruction for this very question.

Hebrews 11:1 says that "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see".  Interestingly, Hebrews 11 then lists a string of heroes in the faith, from Noah to Abraham to Moses and others, and says in verse 39 "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what was promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

So in God's eyes:

a. faith is about what cannot yet be seen and has yet to pass; and
b. it is normal not to receive what we put our faith in, until much later.

James 1:6 further explains that when we ask something of God, "You must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." And Hebrews 11:6 expands on this, saying "Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those diligently seek Him."

So God's word is clear.  We should ask.  We should ask with faith.  Without doubt.  And if we have no doubt that God answers prayer, then we can ask specifically, and for great and mighty things that we cannot imagine to be possible, but which He can do.  Heal cancer.  Restore marriages.  Find jobs.  Pass exams.  Reach the multitudes.

But why then, are there prayers and prophecies that don't work (I put prayer and prophecy together, because what is prophecy but a prayer that something will happen)?

Prayer is a conversation between man and God.  But you may have noticed - prayer often takes the form of man talking, and God listening.  And what kind of conversation is that really??  But if we dare to listen, then God speaks.  He doesn't always tell us what we want to hear.  So sometimes we just keep talking, hoping that we don't have to hear the hard truths. Or sometimes we want to listen, but we misunderstand or simply hear wrongly - just like I misunderstood my Chinese friend.  Doesn't mean I'm a fraud.  I really misunderstood.  But that doesn't mean I stop trying to understand.

In fact the Bible specifically talks about how we can't fully comprehend God's plans in 1 Corinthians 13:12 "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. [In the same way], now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then [when we are finally reunited with God], face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known [by God]." (You might wonder why the Bible describes seeing in a mirror as seeing dimly - the reason is that in those days mirrors were essentially polished bronze, which was not much of a mirror).

So we know that prayer and prophecy are about faith, that we should ask without doubting, but that sometimes we will get it wrong.  So how do we tell whether someone's prayer is trustworthy?  For one thing, if someone's prayer is contrary to God's express word.  So, say for example, praying that one will win at the casino.  Or prophesying that someone "married the wrong person" and should therefore divorce and go off with the "real" love of his/her life.  Even if the prayer is answered, I would seriously worry about who actually answered the prayer.

Perhaps more subtly, another indicator is when prayer or prophecy only seems to focus on one aspect of God.  This is a problem with so-called "hypergrace", or the belief that God only gives and gives, that nothing bad is ever supposed to happen, and God requires us to do nothing but relax in his grace.  It's absolutely true that God gives.  Absolutely true that God's plan is to prosper us and not to harm us.  Absolutely true that without Him we can do nothing.

But.  If all you ever hear is, "God wants you to be happy", "God wants you to be healed", "God wants you to be successful at work", then you have to wonder if you are "only hearing the good stuff".  By analogy, if, as a child, you only hear the good stuff from your parents, you are almost certainly tuning out valuable instruction, chastisement and discipline.

So - the takeaways:

a.  God desires that we pray faithful, specific, powerful prayers!
b.  Sometimes we get it wrong, simply because our limited selves misunderstand, or we don't want to hear what God has to say.  Don't be disappointed if this happens - go seek Him again!
c.  Never use me as your Chinese interpreter! :)

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