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The Most High a Prayer-Hearing God (Psalm 65:2) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed thinking. Today, we're taking a deep dive
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into an astonishing sermon by the 18th century theologian
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Jonathan Edwards. Yes, and the message is titled
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The Most High A Prayer Hearing God.
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Right. And we have a very specific
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mission for you as you listen. Today we want to unpack the
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mechanics of prayer through a strictly reformed lens.
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Because we are looking at how human beings interact with a
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sovereign God, a God who has, you know, ordained all things
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from eternity past. Yeah, that is the core of it.
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But before we get into the theology, we really have to look
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at the historical reality of when and where this sermon was
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preached. Oh, definitely.
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The context is crucial here. It really is.
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Edwards delivered this message in January of 1735 while going
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into 1736 during a public fast day.
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And for those of us living in the modern world, it is so easy
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to hear the phrase public fast day and think of a mild
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scheduled religious observance. Like a Wednesday evening service
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or something. Right, exactly like that.
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But in colonial New England, a public, fast day was a civic
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emergency siren. It was an absolute crisis
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response. It was the authorities did not
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call for a public fast day unless the community was facing
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an existential threat. And the specific threat in 1735
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was an epidemic sickness spreading eastward from Boston.
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Historians looking back at the records generally agree this was
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a horrifying outbreak of diphtheria.
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Yeah. Which they called the throat
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distemper at the time. It was an incredibly aggressive
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bacterial infection and it was overwhelmingly lethal to young
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children. You really have to put yourself
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in the shoes of those parents for a minute.
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It is heartbreaking to even think about.
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It really is. Imagine a community gripped by
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absolute sheer terror watching this plague move methodically
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from town to town. And they were entirely helpless.
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I mean, the medical knowledge of the early 18th century offered
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zero solutions. None at all.
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Yeah. So they gathered in their
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meeting houses not to hear an abstract academic lecture, but
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out of sheer desperation, they were.
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Crying out to the Creator to stop the plague from
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slaughtering their families. Right.
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That is the atmosphere of grief and panic Edwards walks into
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when he steps into his pulpit. It is a very heavy atmosphere.
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Very heavy, and he grounds his entire argument in Psalm 65,
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verse 2. Which says, Oh thou, that
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hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come.
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Yes, he uses that single sentence to construct a rigorous
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logical framework for how prayer functions under a completely
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sovereign God. Because we are going to see that
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prayer is not some mechanical lever you pull to change God's
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mind. Right.
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Rather, it is a divine provision ordained for our absolute
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benefit. Edwards argues that the
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distinguishing character of the true God is precisely that he
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hears the cries of his people. But we need to define our terms
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right away. What does it actually mean when
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Edward says God hears us? Because obviously a hemniscient
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God hears all acoustic frequencies.
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Right, he perceives every sound wave in the universe.
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So Edwards is talking about an action that goes way beyond
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auditory perception. He's talking about a relational
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transaction. And Edwards starts by pointing
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out the staggering condescension of God.
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He uses the phrase poor worms of the dust to describe humanity.
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Which is such a vivid image. It is the Creator who is
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infinitely above all things, who stands in absolutely no need of
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creatures, graciously chooses to take merciful notice of us.
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And when Edwards defines the concept of hearing in this
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theological sense, he breaks it down into two distinct actions.
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OK, let us go through those. First, there is the inward act
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of accepting the supplication. Meaning God is well pleased with
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the address. Yes, he approves of the request
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and the humble manner in which it is made.
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He accepts the prayer as a suitable offering of honor.
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That is the first part. What is the 2nd?
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The second part is that God acts agreeably to that acceptance.
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And Edwards divides that second action, acting agreeably into an
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outward response and an inward response.
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The outward response is what we naturally think of when we talk
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about answered prayer. Like God ordering his Providence
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to align with the petition. Right.
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He orchestrates the events of human history, moving kings,
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changing weather patterns, or altering circumstances to
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deliver the specific mercy requested.
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But the inward response is far more fascinating to.
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Me. Oh, I agree completely.
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Edwards argues that God provides spiritual discoveries of His
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grace and His sovereignty directly to the soul of the
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person praying. He creates quietness, peace and
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rest in them. And that happens sometimes long
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before the outward physical answer ever materializes.
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A brilliant illustration of this inward response is the narrative
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of Hannah in the 1st chapter of First Samuel.
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Edwards leans heavily in this specific biblical history, does
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he not? He does.
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Hannah was barren and she was relentlessly provoked by her
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husband's other wife, Penina. She traveled to the Tabernacle
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at Shiloh in utter bitterness of soul.
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She prayed so fervently, silently moving her lips while
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weeping, that the priest, Eli, actually accused her of being
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intoxicated. Which is wild to think about,
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but she poured out her sorrowful spirit to the Lord.
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And the text reveals something amazing.
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After she prayed, she went her way.
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She ate food and her countenance was no longer sad.
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The outward answer you know. The conception and birth of her
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son Samuel was still months away.
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But the inward answer had already arrived.
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God manifested His acceptance of her prayer by granting her soul
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a restful submission to His will right there in Shiloh.
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That raises A conceptual issue that skeptics and believers
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alike constantly bring up when discussing an omniscient God.
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Right, the question of why we even need to pray.
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Exactly, If God already knows precisely what we need before we
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even formulate the thought, and if His will is perfectly set,
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why the requirement to ask? If you are listening to this and
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you have ever thought why do I need to explain my situation to
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a being who knows it better than I do, you are hitting on a major
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theological question. It is something we all wrestle
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with. Think of an analogy of a father
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teaching his toddler to speak. OK, I like this.
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The father knows the child is hungry.
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The father already prepared the food and has it sitting on the
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counter. But he waits for the child to.
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Ask. He waits for the child to
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articulate the need. Why?
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Because the act of the child using words to ask for help
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builds the child's mind and strengthens the relational bond.
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The father wants a relationship with a developing child, not
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just a biological Organism that needs fuel.
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Yes, if the father just tossed food at the child the second
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their blood sugar drop, he would function as a vending machine.
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And God is not a vending machine.
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Not at all. God is a Father who delights in
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the relational act of His children, demonstrating their
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dependence on Him through the articulation of their needs.
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That relational availability is staggering when you consider the
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vast gulf between who we are and who God is.
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It really is. And this moves us directly into
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Edward's next major argument. He talks about the shocking
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accessibility of the Most High. Modern Christians take this for
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granted, I think. We really do.
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But Edwards points out that God grants us entirely free access.
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He sits on a throne of grace, and there is no physical veil
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hiding this throne. Edwards brings to mind the veil
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in the ancient temple. That was an incredibly thick
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curtain that completely separated the Holy of Holies
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from the rest of the world. To walk past that veil uninvited
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meant instant death. But that veil was torn from top
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to bottom when Christ was crucified.
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And because of that physical tearing, the spiritual way is
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wide open at all times. And what absolutely floors me is
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who gets this access? Who does Edwards say gets it?
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Edwards explicitly states that the most vile and unworthy
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sinners are allowed to come. The greatest offenders have free
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access. In Reformed theology, we talk
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constantly about mediation. Our access is entirely mediated
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by Jesus Christ. Meaning the access is completely
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unmerited by you, the individual.
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Yes, you do not clean up your moral record, achieve a certain
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level of theological superiority, and then schedule
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an audience with the king. You come filthy, relying
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entirely on the perfect righteousness of Christ.
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And God not only tolerates your presence, He genuinely delights
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in your voice. Edwards quotes Son of Solomon,
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chapter 2, verse 14. Where the bridegroom says, Oh my
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dove, let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice, the voice
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of. The Saints in prayer is quite
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literally sweet to the ears of Christ.
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Because he loves to hear our voices, he encourages a specific
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type of praying that Edwards called Holy Importunity.
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This is essentially bothering God and refusing to take no for
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an answer. In polite human society, we
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consider this rude. Very rude.
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If you ask a neighbor for a favor and they're quiet, you
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walk away. Right.
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If you keep banging on their door, you are violating social
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boundaries. But God's boundaries operate on
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an entirely different plane. Edwards points to the parables
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of Jesus to demonstrate this. Look at the parable of the
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importunate widow in Luke 18. She continually harasses an
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unjust judge until he finally grants after justice just to get
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her to leave him alone. Or look at the parable in Luke
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11. A man goes to his friend's house
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at midnight, violently banging on the door for bread to feed an
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unexpected guest. In the ancient Near East, waking
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up a whole family at midnight was a massive breach of
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etiquette. But the man receives the bread
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simply because of his sheer shameless persistence.
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My absolute favorite historical example of this holy importunity
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is the blind man Bartimaeus. Also in Luke 18.
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Yes, Jesus is walking down the road surrounded by a massive,
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chaotic crowd. Bartimaeus is sitting by the
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road and when he hears it as Jesus, he starts screaming at
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the top of his lungs. He yells, Jesus, thou son of
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David, have mercy on me. And the crowd around him
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immediately rebukes him. They tell him to.
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Shut up. They view his shouting as an
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indecent breach of etiquette toward a respected rabbi.
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But Bartimaeus does not care about their rules.
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He ignores them and screams even louder.
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And what does Jesus do? He does not rebuke the man for
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his lack of manners. Jesus stops the entire
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procession, commands the man to be brought to him, and heals
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him. Christ rewarded the sheer
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boldness of a man who refused to be ignored.
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If you are listening to this right now, think about your own
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hesitations when it comes to bringing your needs to God do.
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You ever feel like your requests are too trivial?
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Or do you hold back because you assume the creator of the
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universe is too busy managing galaxies to care about your
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specific personal anxieties? Edwards argues that holding back
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is entirely contrary to God's design.
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The Apostle Paul commands believers to be careful for
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nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication.
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Make your request known. The freedom of access means
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there is no request too small and no sorrow too insignificant
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to be laid before the throne of grace.
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That unlimited access is incredible on its own, but it
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becomes even more staggering when we look at how God actually
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responds when we utilize that access.
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Edwards says God is eminently a prayer.
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Hearing God because of his readiness and his liberation.
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He often answers with shocking speed.
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Isaiah 65 says Before they call, I will answer, and while they're
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yet speaking, I will hear. We see a perfect demonstration
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of this with the prophet Daniel in Chapter 9.
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Daniel is in the middle of a long, agonizing prayer of
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confession for the sins of Israel.
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He is pouring his heart out and before he even finishes the
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sentence, God dispatches the Angel Gabriel to comfort him and
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assure him that the answer has been granted.
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God also gives liberally without upgrading.
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Which is a phrase straight out of James 1.5 think.
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About how humans handle generosity.
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In human relationships, people often show a severe backwardness
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in giving. Yeah, if you ask a wealthy
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friend for a financial bailout, they might write the check, but
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they will likely give you the absolute minimum required.
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And while they hand you the check, they will probably give
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you a stern lecture about your poor financial choices.
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They will put you in mind of your faults.
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They will make sure you feel the weight of your dependence.
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God does the exact opposite. He gives abundantly, and He does
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not throw our undeserving nature in our faces when He grants the
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mercy. He does not abrade us or scold
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us for needing Him. He is plenteous in mercy.
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Sometimes he gives vastly more than we even think to ask for.
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Edwards points to King Solomon and 1st Kings 3.
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God appears to Solomon and tells him to ask for whatever he
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wants. Solomon, feeling the crushing
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weight of leadership, asks for a wise and understanding heart to
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govern the nation. God is so pleased with the
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humility of this request that He gives Solomon an unmatched
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intellect. But then he adds what Solomon
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deliberately avoided asking for. Unprecedented riches, long life
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and honor among all the kings of the earth.
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Paul writes in Ephesians 3 that God is able to do exceeding
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abundantly above all that we ask or think.
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But acknowledging this readiness and liberality forces us to
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confront a massive theological tension.
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The agonizing problem of delay. Yes, if God is so ready to hear
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and so liberal in his giving, why do believers experience long
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seasons of absolute silence? Why do the sometimes feel like
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they're made of brass? Edwards insists that divine
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delays are never signs of reluctance.
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A delay is an intentional calculated tool used by a
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sovereign God. God delays the answer so that
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His people may be better prepared for the mercy before
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they receive it. He withholds the blessings
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simply because another time further down the road is the
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fittest and most appropriate moment for it to arrive.
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I like to think of this in terms of cooking actually like.
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A master chef preparing a meal. Yes.
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You don't want the food rushed out half cooked.
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You want it when the chef determines it is perfectly
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ready. Or think of the process of
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forging a steel blade. Oh, that is a good one too.
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The blacksmith takes a piece of raw iron and the goal is to make
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a weapon capable of holding a razor sharp edge.
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If you just take raw iron and sharpen it, it will shatter the
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first time it strikes something hard.
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The metal is not ready to handle the pressure, so the blacksmith
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puts it in the fire until it is glowing red.
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He strikes it with a hammer. He folds it.
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He plunges it into cold water. He heats it again.
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To the piece of metal, this process feels like endless,
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agonizing punishment. But the blacksmith is
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intentionally manipulating the molecular structure of the
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steel. Creating the tensile strength
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required to hold the edge. God uses the fire of delay to
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forge our character. He is stretching our faith,
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expanding our capacity so that when the blessing finally
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arrives, we have the spiritual tensile strength to handle it
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without being destroyed by pride.
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While God's timing is flawless, Edwards uses some startling,
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almost uncomfortable language in his sermon about how our prayers
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interact with God's will. This takes us into the paradox
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of overcoming God. Edwards explicitly claims that
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God is speaking after the manner of men overcome by prayer.
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He allows himself to be conquered by the fervent
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supplication of his people. The biblical examples Edwards
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sites for this are massive. He points to Genesis 32, where
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Jacob physically wrestles with the Angel of the Lord at the
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River Jabok. They wrestle all night.
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Jacob's hip is thrown out of joint, but he refuses to let go.
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He says I will not let thee go except thou bless me.
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And God actually changes his name to Israel, which means he
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struggles with God because Jacob wrestled with the Almighty and
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prevailed. Edwards points to Moses in
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Exodus 32. God's anger is braining
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furiously against Israel because they are at the bottom of the
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mountain worshipping a golden calf.
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God tells Moses to step aside so he can consume the nation in an
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instant. But Moses refuses to step aside.
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He stands in the gap. He pleads with God, invoking the
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covenant made with Abraham, and he averts the stroke of divine
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vengeance. Edwards also lists Joshua.
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During a massive battle, Joshua prayed and commanded the sun to
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stand and still over Gideon and the moon over the Valley of
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Agilon. And God actually halted the
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celestial bodies to give Israel time to finish the victory.
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He mentions Elijah, a man with passions just like ours who
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prayed earnestly that it would not rain and the heavens were
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shut tight for 3 1/2 years. He prayed again, and the rain
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returned to the earth. He brings up King ASA, who cried
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out to God when a terrifying Ethiopian army of a million men
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marched against him. ASA said We rest on thee, and in
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thy name we go against this multitude.
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And God shattered the enemy army.
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He points to King Hezekiah, who took a threatening, blasphemous
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letter from the Assyrian king Sinatra walked into the temple,
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spread the letter out before the Lord, and prayed for
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deliverance. That very night, an Angel struck
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down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in their camp.
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Wait, hold on. We need to pause right here and
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push back on this, because this raises a massive issue for
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anyone who adheres to reformed theology.
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Yes it does. Chapter 3 of the Westminster
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Confession states that God from all eternity did freely and
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unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.
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It teaches the absolute immutability of God.
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Meaning he never ever changes his mind or his eternal decrees.
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So if God is entirely sovereign and immutable, how on earth can
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a human being overcome Him? It seems like a contradiction.
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How does Moses make God back back down?
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You cannot have it both ways. Either God is unchanging or
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human prayer alters his decrees. Which is it?
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That is the core tension of the entire discussion, and Edwards
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resolves it brilliantly by using tight, precise, reformed
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categories. We must pay strict attention to
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Edwards qualifying phrase which is speaking after the manner of
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men. The technical term for this is
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anthropomorphism. It means describing God's
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actions in human terms so our finite minds can comprehend the
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interaction. God is never actually persuaded
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to change his eternal degree. There is no new inclination or
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sudden shift of will in God. He never gains new information
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from our prayers that causes him to rethink his strategy.
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He is entirely self moved. So what is actually happening
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mechanically when it looks like God is changing his mind in
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response to a prayer? What is happening is that God
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ordains both the ends and the means.
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OK, unpack that for us. When God determines from
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eternity past that He intends to show a specific mercy to a
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person or a nation, He simultaneously stirs up the
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spirit of supplication in them. He pours out the spirit of grace
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upon them, compelling them to pray for that very thing.
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God ordains their prayer as the necessary mechanism, the
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required means to achieve His preordained end.
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So let us look at Moses. When Moses stood in the gap and
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prayed for Israel, Moses was not providing God with new
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information that calmed God down.
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God had eternally decreed to spare Israel.
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Furthermore, God decreed that Moses's fervent intercession
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would be the very mechanism through which that sparing would
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occur. God has overcome only in the
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sense that He designed the system to require our fervent
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asking before He releases the blessing He already fully
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intended to give. That distinction is crucial.
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It means our prayers are not fighting against God's will.
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Right. They are the actual of God's
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will happening in real time. And this living dynamic
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interaction is completely absent in every other belief system.
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Which leads Edwards to launch a sharp, devastating critique of
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false gods. He wants to clearly distinguish
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the Most High from all the idols that the surrounding nations
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worshipped. He points out the sheer,
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undeniable absurdity of idolatry, starting with those
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who worship idols of wood and stone.
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He quotes Psalm 115. They have ears, but they hear
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not. They are senseless walks of
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material. He then moves up the hierarchy
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of false gods. He addresses the worship of
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celestial bodies like the sun, the moon, the stars.
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Mankind obviously receives immense physical benefit from
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the Sun, but Edwards notes that the sun acts entirely by the
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necessity of its nature. The sun shines because its
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physical composition dictates that it burn, not because it is
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consciously choosing to bless you in response to a morning
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petition. It has no mind, no reason, no
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capability to hear a cry of distress.
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He mentions the Egyptian worship of animals like sacred bulls.
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A bull has biological life, unlike the sun, but it is
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entirely destitute of reason. It cannot comprehend the
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spiritual or physical necessities of the humans bowing
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down in front of it. But then, then Edwards gets to
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the darkest, most terrifying form of idolatry, which is the
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worship of devils. He references First Corinthians
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10 where Paul explicitly states that the sacrifices of the
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Gentiles are actually offered to demons.
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Edwards systematically dismantles the idea that demons
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can function as prayer hearing gods.
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First, they lack omniscience. A demon is a finite created
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being. It cannot hear millions of
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prayers simultaneously spoken across the globe.
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Second, they are miserable, tormented spirits bound in
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chains of darkness. They cannot even deliver
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themselves from God's impending judgment, let alone deliver a
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human being from a crisis. And third, they have absolutely
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no disposition to help mankind. Edwards uses a striking, violent
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analogy here to drive the point home.
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He says expecting a devil to help mankind is like expecting a
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pack of hungry wolves to protect a flock of lambs.
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The demonic realm is fueled by pure malice toward image
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bearers. The only reward Satan will ever
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give a human for serving him is to eventually devour them.
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The contrast between these vicious, limited, hateful
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spirits and the true benevolent God is absolute.
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Edwards also contrast the true God with Baal.
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He points to the famous showdown on Mount Carmel in First Kings
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18. The prophets of Baal had to
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scream, cut themselves with knives, and leap frantically on
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the altar all day long just to try and get their God's
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attention. Elijah stood by and mocked them,
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suggesting maybe their God was asleep or traveling.
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False gods require frantic outward physical exertion to
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even be noticed. But the true God perfectly
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understands the silent petitions of his people.
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He hears the quiet, internal groanings of a heart, just like
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he heard Hannah's silent weeping prayer at the Tabernacle.
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This brings us to a logical question that naturally arises
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from Edward's framework. Which is what?
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If God already knows our silent thoughts, and if He is entirely
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sovereign and self moved as we just established, why does He
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demand that we go through the mental and spiritual exertion of
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praying? Why is it a firm requirement?
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Edwards asserts forcefully that God does not require prayer to
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gain information. The spring of his beneficence is
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contained entirely within himself.
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He requires prayer for two specific reasons, honoring God
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and preparing ourselves. Look at the first reason
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honoring God. Prayer is a sensible outward
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acknowledgement of our absolute dependence on Him.
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God created all things for His own glory, and it is entirely
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fitting that He requires His creatures to acknowledge their
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position. When we supplicate the Divine
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Being, we are paying suitable honor to the great Author and
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fountain of all good. We are confessing out loud that
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we have nothing and he has everything.
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The second reason is intensely practical for the believer.
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It prepares the heart. Fervent prayer excites a sense
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of our own desperate need and highlights the immense value of
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the mercy we are seeking. It forces us to confront our own
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unworthiness. By intentionally placing
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ourselves in the immediate presence of God's majesty, our
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minds are prepared to actually prize the blessing once it
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arrives. Think about human nature.
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If a massive blessing just showed up unannounced and
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unasked for, we would likely take it for granted, or worse,
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attribute it to our own luck or skill.
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The agony of asking prepares us to rejoice and be genuinely
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thankful. Think about the physical process
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of tilling soil on a farm. That is a very fitting picture
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for this. The farmer knows the rain is
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coming. The rain represents the mercy of
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God, and it will fall regardless of what the farmer does.
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But if the ground, which represents the human heart, is
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hard, compacted and unbroken, the water will simply hit the
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surface, run off into the ditch and turn into useless mud.
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It will not sink into the roots. The act of prayer is the tilling
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of the soil. It breaks up the hard claws of
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our self-sufficiency, our pride, and our illusion of control.
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It creates the grooves and the furrows, so that when the mercy
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finally pours down, the heart is entirely prepared to absorb it
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and produce actual. Fruit, if you are listening to
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this, look closely at your own prayer life.
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How are you approaching this discipline?
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Are you treating prayer primarily as an information
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transfer session, simply reading a list of demands to God to
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update him on your current status?
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Or are you treating prayer as a vital preparation of your own
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heart to receive grace? Are you allowing the agonizing
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process of asking to break up your self-reliance?
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That preparation is vital, but all the tilling in the world
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would be utterly useless if the sky was blocked by an
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impenetrable ceiling of concrete.
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And in our natural state, the pathway to God is entirely
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blocked by our sin. This is where Edwards brings in
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the central figure of the Christian faith.
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This is the Christological core of the sermon.
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God is infinitely gracious, yes, but He is also infinitely just.
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His justice must be satisfied. Therefore, a mediator is
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absolutely required. Edwards outlines 3 specific
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mechanisms that Christ the Mediator accomplishes to make
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prayer possible. The first is atonement.
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Our sin produces objective legal guilt, and Edwards describes
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this guilt as a separating wall, or a wall of brass between US
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and God. It acts as a thick cloud through
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which our prayers simply cannot pass.
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God would have been inherently gracious even if there was no
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mediator, but without Christ, the way to the mercy would have
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been legally blocked up by divine justice.
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Christ's blood makes atonement for sin, shattering that wall of
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brass and legally opening the way.
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The second mechanism Christ accomplishes is obedience.
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He actually purchases the privilege for us.
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It is not enough just to have the barrier removed.
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Our prayers are still in themselves, polluted things.
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They are constantly mixed with our selfish motives, our
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wandering thoughts and our underlying pride.
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Edwards says Christ's merits act as the incense offered with our
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prayers. This is a beautiful image drawn
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straight from the Old Testament temple system.
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The animal sacrifices smelled of blood and burning flesh, which
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is repulsive. But the priest offered sweet
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smelling incense to cover the stench and make the offering
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acceptable. Think about the doctrine of
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imputed righteousness. Christ's perfect obedience is
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the incense that covers the stench of our flawed, selfish
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prayers, making them a sweet savour to God the Father.
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It is the only reason our prayers have any efficacy
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whatsoever. The third mechanism is
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intercession. Christ actively enforces our
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prayers at the right hand of the Father.
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Edwards points to the imagery in Revelation Chapter 8, where an
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Angel stands at the golden altar before the throne with a sensor
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offering much incense with the prayers of all the Saints.
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Christ has entered the Holy of Holies in heaven, and He takes
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our meager, broken, poorly articulated requests, purifies
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them, and continually presents them to the Father on our
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behalf. This synthesis perfectly aligns
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with performed thinking. We bring absolutely nothing to
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the table. Even our best prayers on our
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best days are tainted by human depravity.
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They only avail anything because they pass through the wounded
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hands of the mediator. Without Jesus, there is no
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prayer. Hearing God for us, we would be
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left crying into a cold, empty void.
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And yet, even with a mediator, even with the wall of brass
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completely removed, believers still experience the painful,
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confusing reality of silence. We pray in Jesus name and we
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still hear nothing. Edwards does not shy away from
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this pastoral reality. He addresses the problem of
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unanswered prayer head on, providing several reasons why
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prayers go unanswered without invalidating God's character as
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a prayer. Hearing God.
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The first reason Edwards gives is that we often ask a miss.
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He quotes James Chapter 4. Ye ask and receive not because
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you ask a miss, that you may consume it upon your lusts.
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We pray for temporal goods like money, status, relationship,
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success, not to glorify God, but to gratify our own pride or
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sensuality. We ask for worldly things so we
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can make an idol out of them. Edward points out a brilliant
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logic here. If God granted those specific
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prayers, he would actually be acting as his own enemy because
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He would be handing us weapons to use in warfare against Him.
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Denying a request that would fuel our idolatry is an act of
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sheer protective Divine Mercy. The second reason is insincerity
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or dissembling. This is when we pray for
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holiness with our lips, but we actively love and choose sin in
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our daily practice. God searches the heart.
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He does not just listen to the audio recording of our.
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If there is no sincerity, there is no true prayer.
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But Edwards provides an incredibly piercing insight here
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regarding our underlying attitude.
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He says we often come in words as beggars, but in our hearts we
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come as creditors, treating God as our debtor.
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That insight about being a creditor is devastatingly
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accurate. Think about how modern
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Christians operate in our words. We use all the right theological
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jargon. We say by your grace and if it
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be your will. We posture ourselves outwardly
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as humble beggars, but internally we feel incredibly
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entitled. We look at our church
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attendance, our tithing records, our moral behavior, and we
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calculate a Ledger. We conclude that God owes us a
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smooth life, a healthy family, and a successful career.
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We come to him with an invoice expecting payment for our good
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behavior. And Edward says in our hearts we
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accounted hard, unjust and cruel if God denies us what we asked
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for. When you approach God as a
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creditor demanding payment rather than a beggar relying
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entirely on free grace, your prayers are completely void of
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the faith that God honors. I want you, the listener, to
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audit your motives the next time you're frustrated by an
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unanswered prayer. Look closely at your anger.
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Are you genuinely submitting to his wisdom, or are you secretly
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furious because a debtor failed to pay out what you felt you
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earned? The third reason Edwards gives
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for unanswered prayer rests in divine wisdom.
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God answers us as a father, not as a subordinate employee taking
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dictation. We are not directing God.
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He knows what is best for us 10,000 times better than we do.
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Sometimes he denies the literal individual thing we asked for
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because it would actually be a judgement upon us to receive it.
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If the main goal of our prayer is our ultimate good, God
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answers that prayer by giving us what we actually need to achieve
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that good, rather than the destructive thing we foolishly
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requested. The strict conditions for
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acceptable prayer like faith, sincerity, right motives,
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mediation lead to a very common intellectual excuse.
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People look at these rigorous requirements and they construct
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an argument to avoid praying altogether.
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This is the use of the natural man, the person who has not yet
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experienced saving faith. The argument goes like this.
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I am in a natural condition. I know I lack true saving faith.
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Since God only accepts the sincere prayer faith offered
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through the Mediator, any prayer ioffer will be hypocritical and
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unacceptable. Therefore, it is better for me
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to just keep my mouth shut and not pray at all until God
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changes my heart. It sounds almost theologically
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responsible on the surface, doesn't it?
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It sounds like they're trying to protect God's holiness.
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It sounds pious, but Edwards firmly and aggressively rejects
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it. First and foremost, he states
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that an internal lack of faith does not excuse a person from
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obeying a plain outward command of God.
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God commands all people everywhere to seek Him.
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Proverbs chapter 2 directs all persons to cry after wisdom.
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James One says if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God.
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When the sovereign God gives a clear command to do a thing, it
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is not our place to formulate clever theological excuses.
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We are simply commanded to do the thing required.
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Furthermore, Edwards points out a fascinating biblical reality.
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God sometimes answers the prayers of unbelievers out of
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His sheer sovereign mercy. He provides examples from
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Scripture that are impossible to ignore.
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In Acts chapter 8, Peter specifically commands Simon
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Magus, a man whose heart was not right with God and who was
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trapped in the gull of bitterness, to repent and pray
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that the thought of his heart might be forgiven.
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God heard the wicked King Ahab when he humbled himself
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outwardly, even though his heart was not truly regenerate.
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God heard the cries of the Pagan Ninevites in the book of Jonah
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and spared their city from destruction.
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It creates A fascinating theological tension.
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Yes, it really does if the. Prayer of a person without
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saving faith is deluded and not truly acceptable through the
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mediator. Why does God still answer it?
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The answer lies in the Reformed distinction between saving grace
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and common grace. Saving grace is reserved
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exclusively for the elect. It changes the soul, justifies
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the Sinner, and guarantees eternal life.
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But common grace is God's general goodness extending over
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all creation. He sends rain on the just and
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the unjust. He pities the misery of his
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creatures. The act of a natural man crying
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out in distress is not meritorious, but God and His
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infinite abundance may choose to alleviate that physical
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distress. Moreover, Edwards suggests that
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this very act of crying out under common grace can sometimes
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be the mechanism God uses to prepare that natural person's
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heart for the eventual reception of saving grace.
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Edwards uses the ultimate example of common grace from
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Psalm 147. He says God hears the cries of
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the hungry Ravens. Think about a Raven.
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A bird has no soul, no theology, no concept of a mediator.
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It acts purely on biological instinct.
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Yet God opens His bountiful hand and satisfies the desire of
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every living thing. If God Stoops to feed a
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scavenging bird that croaks at the sky in hunger, how much more
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should a human being made in the image of God lift their voice in
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a time of desperate need? That brings the entire sermon
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into a breathtaking perspective. Jonathan Edwards maps out a
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massive, comprehensive vision of reality.
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We have a totally sovereign God who decrees the end from the
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beginning, who holds the stars in their courses, who governs
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every single molecule in the universe.
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Yet this same majestic being intimately engages with the dust
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of the earth. He tears open the veil, provides
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his own Son as a mediator the anxieties and sorrows of broken
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people. He uses their very prayers as
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the. Ordained instruments to
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accomplish His eternal will. As we wrap up this deep dive, we
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want. To leave you with a final
34:03
thought to Mull over, drawing directly from that imagery of
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the Ravens, Edwards points out that God satisfies.
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The cries of these birds. Think about the staggering scale
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of what that actually implies if the Most High God bends his.
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Ear to the instinctive, faithless croak of a scavenging
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bird in the wilderness. What does that reveal about the
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sheer overflowing scale of divine attentiveness in a
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universe that often feels cold and silent to us?
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If a bird's cry. Registers as an actionable event
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in the Throne Room of Heaven. How much more does the groaning
34:35
of humanity reach his ears? The universe is not a closed.
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Mechanical clock left to wind down on its own.
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It is a governed intentional. Reality overseen by a father
34:44
who's listening. The structure of God's decrees.
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Might seem fixed and immovable, but the living breath of prayer
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is what animates the Christian life.
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Thank you for joining us for this deep.
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Dive into the mechanics of prayer.
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We encourage you to carry this perspective into your daily
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life. Stop treating God like a vending
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machine and stop acting like a creditor demanding payment for
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good behavior. Go to Him as a beloved child
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through the mediation of Christ and speak to the God who hears.
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Until next time.