Problems Into Possibilities: Prayer

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Your teenage son walks in one evening and says, “My girlfriend’s pregnant.”

The doctor walks in and he says, “Your lungs are at 50% capacity.”

The boss says, “Your job’s been eliminated.”

The spouse says, “You’ve been replaced.”

The teacher says, “You’re failing the class.”

The coach says, “You’re off the team.”

Your parents say, “You’re moving out of state.”

Your boyfriend says, “I’m moving on.”

Problems. Living this side of heaven, we’re always going to encounter them. Some of them are large. Some of them are small but the reality is we have to deal with them. We have a choice. We can either let those problems become so overwhelming that they throw our whole life into turmoil or we can turn to God for a new prospective. And through God’s Word, we can see those problems can be turned into possibilities.

Now I don’t want to minimize or oversimplify or discount the tragic events that happen in our lives. There are no simple answers to complex problems but I do believe by relying upon God’s Word and His promises, we can see how God can guide us through those problems, how God can take any problem and turn it into a possibility, into a positive in our life.

This morning, the beginning part of turning those problems into possibilities according to scripture is prayer. Scripture says the first thing we should do when we encounter any kind of difficulty, any kind of problem or challenge in our life is we should turn to God in prayer. Now it’s been my experience that’s usually the last thing we do. Usually, we exhaust all the possibilities and finally, when there’s nothing else we can do, we say something to the effect of, “Well, I guess there’s nothing left to do but pray about it.”

Scripture says the exact opposite. Scripture says the first thing we should do is take it to God in prayer. We’re going to look for Nehemiah this morning to sort of guide us through the importance of prayer. We’re also going to look at Jesus and His life of prayer to show us the important part prayer plays in God turning our problems into possibilities.

Now before we get started, we really need a little bit of background knowledge about Nehemiah. So we have to do a little bit of a history lesson here, so we have to go back in time to Israel. Israel at this point in history has been carted off into captivity by Babylon, so long gone are the days of the glorious kingdom of David where they were a superpower in the region of the Middle East at that time. Now Jerusalem is in shambles. The walls are down. Most all of the population is now enslaved in Babylon. There is a remnant, there are a few people who have gone back to Jerusalem.

In the midst of all of this, you have a guy named Nehemiah. I always thought he was the shortest guy in the bible. “Knee high emiah,” I know it’s early but I’m trying to wake you up, okay? Nehemiah has secured a place at the palace. He’s the cupbearer of the king. I know that doesn’t sound too impressive but really for an Israelite to have that kind of position, it was pretty unusual. The cupbearer meant before the king took a sip of wine, he took it first. Before the king ate any food, he’d eat it first. Now, of course, that was to make sure the wine and the food wasn’t poisoned. But as long as you didn’t focus in on that part of the job, it was pretty good. You figure he’s always in the presence of the king, which means he has to have some pretty good duds to wear. That means he’s living in the palace. He’s eating great food. He has the life. Compared to the rest of the Israelites that are in captivity, he has the high life. He’s doing well.

So in the midst of this problem-free existence that Nehemiah has, in walks his brother and he’s been to Jerusalem. And so out of curiosity, Nehemiah says, “So, what’s happening back in Jerusalem?” Well, his brother said this, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and the gates have been burned with fire. The entire defense system is in a shambles. The early warning system isn’t working. Satellite surveillance is down. The borders are wide open.” Jerusalem, the center for Jewish people, the center of their existence where the temple was, where the stronghold was, where the capital was, when they were a superpower of the region is now in shambles and the people are disgraced. For any Jewish person, it’s humiliating. It’s disgraceful that Jerusalem would be in this kind of shape. When Nehemiah hears the news, he’s devastated. Israel has a big problem, and Nehemiah takes that problem on.

But what does he do? What’s the first thing Nehemiah does when confronted with this complex problem? He does exactly the opposite of what you’d expect him to do. Instead of hitting the road and heading to Jerusalem, he hits his knees and he prays to God. He prays first and he acts secondly. When he wrote the book, he put it this way, “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days, I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” For some days, he prayed. In other words, it wasn’t just a quick prayer on Nehemiah’s part and then off springing into action, but he spends days consulting with God, praying to God, seeking God out, trying to find some direction of how he should act in this.

Now before you get the wrong impression of Nehemiah and think he’s just a crybaby weeping in his room about everything that’s happening down there, somehow he’s inept to handle the problem, remember his position. As cupbearer to the king, that means he had influence with the king. Well, the king doesn’t surround himself with dummies. He had to be pretty sharp to have that position. In one sense, he was almost an advisor to the king. Besides that, if you read the rest of the book of Nehemiah, he is a man of action and he is a problem solver so much so that when he does make it down to Jerusalem, he rebuilds all of the wall. He re-fortifies the city in some 50 days, no small accomplishment. So Nehemiah is a man of action, and he’s very capable of solving this problem. But he resists his normal inclination to act first and then ask God to bless his plan. Instead, he seeks God out and he asks God to show him the way and to open up those doors on how this problem can be solved.

The first thing we learn from Nehemiah is we pray first and we act second. Now I don’t know about you but that’s the exact opposite way I approach problems. When difficulties come my way, when something comes up whether it’s a big problem or it’s a little problem, my normal inclination is let’s get busy. “Let’s get a second opinion from the doctor.” “Let’s talk to the teacher.” “Well, let’s talk to the coach about this.” “Maybe we need to see if there’s an HR person who can secure us a job.” I want to get busy. I want to get doing on something and I have to admit, as a male, I’m worse at it than anyone else. Guys, we have to own up to this. We are problem solvers by nature. Just ask us. Go ahead. Present us with a problem. No matter how small or how big, we as males will solve that problem for you and we’ll offer all kinds of advice. Ladies, you have to live with it. It’s in our DNA.

But scripture says we need to resist that, to resist coming up with a plan because all we do then is we exhaust all of the possibilities and then when nothing seems to work, we finally throw up our hands and say, “Well, I guess we better just pray about it. I don’t know what else we can do.” That’s a prayer of desperation. You’re so desperate you’ve tried everything else. “Well, I guess I’ll try God and see what He’ll do.” God wants us to have prayers of anticipation, not prayers of desperation, prayers that anticipate how God is going to act in our life. Jesus Himself tells us to do that. Jesus says, “You’ve got problems. Bring them to me.” He said in the gospel of Luke, “So I say to you ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” Jesus says, “You’ve got questions, ask. God has the answers. You’re trying to seek me out. You’ll find me. I’m there. Knock. I’ll open up the doors for you.” So isn’t it rather curious we have the God of the universe, the creator of all things standing by ready, willing, and able to come into our lives and to help us with those problems and most times we say, “I’m good. Thanks but I’m good. But listen, if I need you, I’ll call on you, okay?” Why would we do that?

Why would we not call upon the God who is all powerful, who has all the strength and all the knowledge and all the wisdom, why would we not consult Him first? When we are confronted with a problem, we pray first. It’s a prayer of anticipation, anticipating how God is going to open doors, how God is going to lead us, give us a nudge in this direction or a nudge in that direction, how God is going to be active in our life. We pray first and act second and we pray believing God will act.

We pray with conviction and the belief God is going to answer our prayers, that He’s listening, and that God is going to be active in our life, that God is going to open those doors. What that does is when we do spring into action, we spring into action with confidence and with boldness.

Case in point. Nehemiah. Talk about a guy who decided to act with confidence and boldness. He spends these days praying to God about this problem of the wall and that he’s waiting for God to open up a door. So Chapter 2 says he’s in front of the king and the king looks at him and he says, “Nehemiah, son, you’re not looking good.” He says, “You’re looking kind of depressed. You’re looking awfully sad. What’s up?” Well, Nehemiah spills his guts. He tells him. “Well, Jerusalem’s in shambles. My people are ashamed.” All this. He goes on and on and on. And so then God opens the door. It says, “The king said to me, ‘What is it you want?’” God cracked open the door. How are we going to solve this problem of the wall around Jerusalem? The king says, “What do you want?”

Well, Nehemiah tells him. Boy, does he tell him. The next verse says, “Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king.” Oh, he answered the king alright. “What is it that you want, Nehemiah?” “Well, listen, King, not to ask too much but I’d like a little time off work from my position here with pay and benefits if you wouldn’t mind. I’ll probably be gone maybe three years if that’s not too much to ask. I’d like safe passage down to Jerusalem because there are some enemies there so, if you could, give me some papers to make sure I make it through all the enemy territory. And by the way, it just so happens we’ll be going through your forest so could I have orders that all the wood I need to rebuild the wall will be given to me? And let’s see, just to make sure, could you give me a few soldiers and a couple calvary to make sure I’m safe while I’m down there?” It’s all in Chapter 2. I’m not making a word of this up.

He spills it all to the king. This is what I want. He asked for the whole enchilada. And what does the king say? “Sounds reasonable. Okay, go ahead.” He gives him everything he needs so he can go down to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall. You see what I’m saying is Nehemiah prayed believing God was going to hear him, believing God was going to open up a door and he was going to be confident of that until proven otherwise. And so when this door cracked open and the king says, “What do you want?” he went rushing through with a boldness and a confidence that is almost unbelievable what he asked for.

The second thing we learn from Nehemiah is when we pray, we pray believing what we’re asking for. We pray believing God is going to hear our prayer, God is going to answer our prayer, and God is going to grant our request. James puts it this way, “When you ask for something, you must believe and not doubt because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea. He’s blown and tossed around.” When we approach God in prayer, if we don’t believe God is listening, why are we praying? If we don’t believe God is going to answer our pray, then why are we bothering? We approach God in faithfulness, and we believe God is going to answer that prayer, God is going to open up opportunities for us, He’s going to show us the right direction, He’s going to open up doors and we pray believing God is going to grant our request until He proves otherwise.

What I mean by that is there is a tension here. That is, God says we pray confidently that He’s going to give us what we ask for. But you and I all know sometimes God doesn’t give us what we ask for because God knows more than we do. But until He proves that, we approach Him with confidence. Until God says, “No,” we continue praying with confidence that God is going to answer our prayer.

And then, and maybe most importantly, we pray trusting that God will work in our best interest. We pray believing that God knows far more than we do and that no matter what answer God gives us, it’s the right answer and it’s the best answer even if we don’t see it at the time.

The greatest example of that is a prayer Jesus prayed. If you look through the gospels, there are over 51 occurrences of the word pray or prayer. That’s how dominant it is there. Throughout the gospels, you have sprinkled of Jesus going off in prayer by Himself, praying for Himself, praying for His disciples, you name it, He does it. But the one that has the most dramatic effect is the one He prays in Gethsemane. Listen again, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Now that’s heavy. This is the Son of God. He’s so overwhelmed to the point of death. So He approaches the Father and He says, “My Father, if it’s possible, may this cup be taken from me yet not as I will but as you will.” Jesus is staring at a huge problem. It’s called the cross. He knows the physical pain He’ll have to endure if He’s nailed to that cross. He knows the spiritual anguish He’ll go through as the sinfulness of mankind is laid upon Him. So He approaches the Father in heaven about this problem and He says, “Father, if there’s another way, can you show it to me? If there’s another way we can accomplish this, then let’s go down that road instead of going down this road.” You can be certain the disciples and Jesus’ mother, as Jesus is arrested and convicted and taken out to that hill to be crucified, were praying to the Father that somehow He would intervene and Jesus wouldn’t be nailed to the cross, that Jesus wouldn’t have to die upon that hill and yet the Father said, “No.” The Father said to His Son, “No.” But why?

Well, those disciples back then and Jesus’ mother, they didn’t know that some day there’d be a guy named Ron Burcham. They didn’t know there’d be a Scott, a Dan, a Ted. God the Father did. They didn’t know about any of us that would be here in this room, but God the Father did. And the Father knew the only way I could stand before Him, the only way any of us could spend an eternity in heaven with Him is if Jesus went to the cross, if He was nailed there and my sins were placed upon His shoulders and through His blood would I be forgiven.

You see, God knows more than we do. If God says no, it’s the right answer. God took the problem of the cross and He turned it into the possibility of the salvation of all who call upon Jesus as their Lord and Savior. When we pray to God, we trust and believe that He knows best. We trust and believe in His wisdom and we trust and believe He will turn our problems into possibilities. We may or we may not see it or understand it, but God has promised it. God has guaranteed it and maybe even more importantly, God has demonstrated that fact, that He always works for our best interest. God always turns the problems into possibilities in our lives.

You see, problems, difficulties this side of heaven, the reality is we will all have to deal with them. Some of them will be great. Some of them will be small. But God has promised to walk along side of us. God has promised He’ll take those problems and turn them into possibilities and God says the first thing you do, not the last thing, but the first thing you do is you pray. Amen.

Copyright 2006 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church